Dragonball Destiny 2
by Quick Zero
Summary: After nearly surviving his encounter last year, Déshawn takes to his new task gingerly. But with 5 corrupt officials from the school board and a conniving opponent making life difficult at every turn, the young Sayjin may have too much on his plate.
1. The Vision

Disclaimer: I don't own DragonBall Z, it's concepts, or any references to the actual anime/manga. Just the original characters.

Authors note: Okay, I'm re-uploading this story, and will be getting to the other stories I have posted on the site. I was pretty lazy and didn't realize that didn't space the story the same way I had in Word. That being said...enjoy :)

* * *

While many people considered the short, gray-haired, technological genius to be senile and slightly crazy, Elentill Jorn might actually be the smartest person within the Academy grounds. Because he's seen as extremely eccentric, most people tend to write off his observations as random foolishness, but the more observant people see the truth of the matter: what Elentill Jorn predicts, tends happen more than most would like to admit. And thus I stood in the arena, encircled by eight opponents, the top four fighters from two different teams. It was dusk at the Academy, and the last fight for team ranking matches was about to be concluded. My black aura of battle was pulsating around me as the group slowly walked around me, trying to find some sort of weakness in my generally laid back stance. It had grown far too easy for me to beat the academy students 1 on 1, so this was Master Essam's idea. My team would fight separately, and I would fight the stronger of two teams.

"Hopefully this will provide a challenge," I muttered to myself.

As if hearing my silent musings two of the students in front of me suddenly attacked. I leapt to the right, slammed my palms into his ribs, cracking several and thrusting him into his teammate. Then the other 6 all rushed in at once. Had Master Essam not taught me to sense rear attacks last year, I most likely would have had to get into a position where I could see them all at once. But this wasn't the case now, and I danced through the heavy storm with near ease. My smile grew wider and wider as I found myself barely avoiding near-hits and my breathing rate increasing steadily as I began to get tired.

"Now THAT is what I'm talking about!" I laughed as I began to return fire.

I snapped a thrust kick out behind myself, but I missed the alert girl. I let my body drop to the ground as a kick was launched over my head. Then I felt a spike of ki and the 6-man rush broke off, looking up in shock I saw two ki balls a mere foot away from me.

"Damn, he IS good." Janiko commented aloud as he sat with the rest of Team Halima.

The performance Déshawn was putting on was nothing short of spectacular. He avoided every attack, even ones from his blind area, with nothing more than minimal effort. But the two teams weren't mere drones and had been pressing their hopeless attack as a distraction. Janiko saw it, Abrihet may have, Chafulumisa had predicted it before the beginning of the fight, Samantha was simply watching, and Edana had hoped her lover would see it coming. But he hadn't, and the result was a nearly comical look of shock on Déshawn's face. Then the explosion erased all that. Somewhere near the bottom of the stands, where the teachers were sitting, Master Essam flinched imperceptibly. The smoke hadn't even begun to dissipate when the two teams simultaneously began to cut loose, determined to prove that Déshawn wasn't all he was hyped up to be. The bolts of ki poured into the smoke, the cloud grew, the noise level was astonishing, and the looks of horror on everyone's faces seemed to convey a single thought: even a Super Sayjin wouldn't have survived that. Finally the assault ended and the smoke hung in the air, as if to protect the audience from seeing whatever disfigured being lay within it. Then a gust of wind blew across the arena, willed into existence by a force nobody, but Essam Maysa and Elentill Jorn, could truly appreciate, and there in the very epicenter of the hailstorm of ki, stood Déshawn Jackson-Maysa.

"Holy…shit…" the voice of Team Chalet's leader was quivering very obviously. "We hit him with everything."

I slowly floated up, trying to let the pain all over my torso and arms subside. Once I pulled level with the stunned warriors, I smirked evilly. Then I zapped forward at Ermine Chalet, and slammed my elbow into his stomach. He doubled over immediately, saliva forcefully ejected from his mouth, as I lifted my leg in a slight curve raising it above his head. Then I slammed my heel down on his back, next to his spine as I wasn't aiming for permanent damage, sending him rocketing back to the ground. If Ermine was still conscious, the impact with the ground was enough to finish him off. Then I rocketed after the nearest contestant, who finally got the sense to defend his self. He aimed a hook at my face but I spun and whipped a backhand into the base of his neck, knocking him cold immediately. I flipped backwards, raising my altitude, as I sensed a sneak attack. The shocked fighter looked up just as dark purple energy blurred into existence on my outstretched palms.

"SHADOW BURN!"

The blast whipped off of my hands and flew down at the stunned fighter with a flagella-like tail trailing behind it. The larger student, even in his astonished state, still had the presence of mind and reflexes to dodge the attack. While slightly surprised I had planned for the exact response to the attack, and I simply grabbed the tail of the ki blast. Twisting in a circle, I whipped the attack around my body knocking my initial target into the ground, as well as catching two more unfortunate victims, all of whom yelled in pain, as the ki I used in the Shadow Burn was twice as hot as a normal ki attack. Turning around I counted four remaining opponents, three of them with a nice burn mark on their cheek, arm, or back. Smirking, my black aura flared up around me and I dove into the battle for a final burst of fighting. I ducked under the first hook, countering with an uppercut-elbow, and then I spun planting a thrust kick into his stomach, and then finally finished him off with a chop to his neck. As soon as I'd taken the next fighter out of the competition I dropped to the ground, landing in the crater that was generated from the energy blitz mounted on me. I was attacked as soon as the last three contestants landed. I ducked under a roundhouse kick, and stood back up quickly as soon as her foot was right above me. With a yelp she was caught off guard and dropped to her back as I knocked her off balance. Skipping the finishing blow, I flipped forward to avoid the ki blasts that exploded right behind me. Turning around quickly, my palms were already aimed at the last two standing fighters, as purple energy blazed onto my hands, electricity already surrounding it.

"SHOCKING FURY!" came my deep yell.

The blasts whipped forwards at them so fast they only had time to block it. But the electricity flowed through their bodies freely and soon muscular control was lost and their arms dropped, as the blasts finally pushed forwards, exploding, and knocked them out cold. Then I heard a groaning behind me, and whip around, my outstretched arms summoning another massive golden blast.

"SOARING-"

"No need," the girl's voice is shaky. "I'm throwing in the towel."

The energy dies from my hands and I shrug. "Don't blame you."

"The least you could say is thank you," Her voice drops in a conspiratorial tone. "Seeing as I'm letting you get back to Ayana a bit earlier."

My anger rockets and manifests itself as my eyes flashing green and golden energy reappearing on my hands. "SOARING HAMMER!"

* * *

"Déshawn! What the HELL was that about?" Essam yells at me, her fury just barely even with my own. Which was considerable.

"You didn't hear what that bitch said," my voice was crackling with barely controlled anger. Then I took a breath and remembered to bite my tongue, "did Ayana tell you what she did after you told her about my…mission?"

"She said she gave you a quick test to see if she could really trust your strength of character." Essam recalled, surprised at the question.

"Hmph, well she watered that version down, that's for sure." I growled, folding my arms. "She told me to kiss her."

"What does that have to do with Mollina?"

"Well, someone was watching us from the dorm's and decided it'd be funny to tell Edana that I was cheating on her with Ayana."

"Which naturally, should be a lie."

"And they bought the story like sheep normally do. So after I beat Mollina's team and whatever team was joining forces with them, she figures it'd be funny to say 'I'm letting you get back to Ayana' is the reason she's giving up." I said. "I don't care if she doubts my abilities, I had just proved them very clearly. But I do NOT need foolish propaganda being thrown in my face."

"Well tell me something. Did you kiss Ayana?" Essam looks me in the eye very seriously, as if there was a remote possibility that I had kissed her.

"Yes," my voice oozes sarcasm. "Because making out with the step-sister of my sworn enemy, who I've beaten into running away in sorrow, is exactly my idea of a pleasurable experience."

"No matter how a master illusionist covers his tricks, and locks away his secrets. People will still ask how he does it." Master Essam's riddle is poorly timed, in the middle of my verbal rampage.

"And what the hell does that even mean?" I roar in frustration.

"You can bullshit me all you want with sarcasm, I still want a straight answer from you," comes Essam's first explanation ever.

"That's none of your business! Only Ayana, Edana, and me should be worrying about that! Everyone else needs to stay out my fucking business!" I yell as I endured yet another interrogation about what happened in the courtyard.

"Déshawn…" Essam began.

But I had no ears for her anymore; I stormed out of her office slamming the door behind me, and stormed off back towards my room. Outside in the courtyard I heard a catcall from in the general direction of the arena and was considering firing one of my more potent attacks at it, but I heard a gentle voice from behind me.

"Hey sweetie," Ayana's soft tone sounds suggestive.

My teeth clench, "shut the hell up."

"Aw come on," her voice sounds, almost singsong. "It's me and you against the world, we can't be fighting each other as well."

"Do you even realize, what I'm considering doing to you right now?" My fists clench as well, my ki level shooting up. Ayana acted as if she didn't sense the impending death I wanted to deliver her.

"Ooh," her voice takes on a husky tone. "Nothing too rough I hope. You've got a lot of…power. We both know that, seeing as I've had it in me before."

The suggestive comments about the time she stole my ki only served to push my rage even further, and I simply walk off, my fists shaking visibly as I dig my nails into my palms. Heading towards the dormitory intent on escaping Ayana's farce advances in my room, or possibly Edana's. But she pursued, as expected.

"Deshy, why are you so upset?" She puts her hands on my shoulders and begins to massage them slowly. "Anything I can help with?"

I whip my hand around, knocking her arms off of my shoulders, and my other hand palms a ki blast into her stomach, which blows her through the air. She lands hard and she slides a few feet until her back hits the well-abused fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Either she gets the message, or she's through bothering me, but she finally stops following me and I continue into the dormitories where Jerek is found talking to Nani. Talking wouldn't be a very accurate term to use, as all he ever seemed to do was tell her how perfect she was. Another annoying habit he'd picked up was trying to make friendly talk with me. I'm not sure if it was from the beating I'd given him, or my fight with Dabir last year, or the fact it was common knowledge that none of the students could beat me alone, supposedly, but he never had any disrespectful words for me anymore. I simply wrote it off as a personal agenda he had that required me to drop my guard.

"Shawn! My comrade!" Jerek greets, turning his love-filled eyes off of Nani for a minute. "How did your fight go?"

"Get out of my face Damois. I respected you more when you didn't respect me." I growl pushing him from in front of me.

"Oh come on, a little friendship never hurt anyone."

"Wanna bet?" my fist glowed with energy as if to emphasize my point.

"Later, right now I must attend to my goddess," he smiled, almost genuinely, and turned back to Nani.

"And if you call me 'Shawn' again, I will write the story of your demise with the blood of your disemboweled body." I add as an afterthought.

"Don't you have your own goddess to be attending to?" I heard his sly reply overlap Nani's whispered protests. My ki level shot up, as I turned, ready to follow through on my threat. "I think Edana's in her room."

* * *

My mind was in a whirlwind of suspicions and questions towards Jerek. All this time, I had been figuring that Jerek was the rumor-starter, and here he was the only person who'd said anything that remotely made sense to me. I finally reached Edana's door, and knocked on it gently, as my thoughts were still unfocused. That is, until Edana answered the door, her eyes red and cheeks tear-stained. Immediately I reach my arms out and pull her into a deep embrace.

"Edana, what's wrong?" I ask. My voice laced with concern.

"Déshawn, you know that when I heal someone, I sometimes glimpse their future if I'm close to them?" she asked, her voice shaking almost as much as her body did.

"Yes," I lie, having never known she had rare clairvoyant experiences.

"I j-just woke up from a nightmare." She sobbed; her body suddenly began to seizure.

My eye's opened in shock as I tried to remember what I knew about helping someone with a seizure. I rushed her into her bedroom, and laid her on the bed quickly as I zapped back out, into the kitchen. I searched the drawers frantically as the springs of the bed continued to squeak under her constant shaking until I found my target. I tore back into Edana's room and placed the handle of the spoon on her tongue, pressing it behind her teeth so her jaw wouldn't clench down on it effectively biting through it. As well as keeping her tongue held firmly in place so she wouldn't involuntarily swallow it either. I watched in horror as the jerking slowly died down to a slight shaking, then finally a slight vibration. Removing the spoon from her mouth, I cradled her upper body in my arms and rocked back and forth gently, trying to calm her down from whatever horror her subconscious mind had subjected her to while she was asleep.

"M-my n-nightmare…" she breathed quietly.

"Don't worry about it," I touched my finger to her lips. "It can wait."

"No…it can't." Edana whispered. "It was…of you."

I stopped, fearful of what she might have seen about me. Then curiosity overrode my foreboding sense, "of me doing what?"

"…Dying."

Then her eyes dropped and her body went limp as she lost consciousness.


	2. The Officials

"Master Essam," I was in her office, deeply disturbed after dropping Edana off in the hospital wing. "Is Edana really clairvoyant?"

"Yes, every person she heals ends up with a slight connection to her." Essam stood up and walked around her desk. "If there is some sort of great joy, triumph, or even doom, she may experience a prophetic dream pertaining to their future."

"Well, this proves to be a bit more disturbing than I'd originally thought," I cross my legs and float in mid-air. "Since she just told me she had a dream about…my death."

Rather than the expected horror, shock, worry, or even sadness that one might expect from a surrogate mother, Essam simply wore a blank stare of incredulity. "You didn't expect to live forever did you?"

"Well no, but I wasn't looking for a premature death either." I feel wrong-footed at her apparent lack of concern.

"Then why do you live the life of a warrior?" she questioned.

I open my mouth, as if to argue back, but realize the truth of her words. "It still bothers me."

"A true warrior does not fear death, nor does he resign himself to it. A fool runs from his demise, or does not believe in it's potential." Essam responds, patting me on the shoulder.

"As in, cross that bridge when you get to it?" I ask with a sly smirk.

"And that's a bridge you can burn if you wish," she winked at me.

I smile at the sentiment, and then I feel my senses pick up about 5 approaching powers, 5 very high powers. I look at Master Essam who seems to have been expecting the sudden approach.

"Déshawn, find Ayana and return here immediately. Make it less than 3 minutes." She ordered quietly.

I was already halfway out of the door the second she opened her mouth.

It wasn't hard to sense Ayana's power; it was unusual in the most basic sense and it tended to stand out, as she was exceptional amongst the rest of the students. So it had taken me about 45 seconds to find and catch up to her, we had even had time to pick up scouters from Mr. Jorn, who obliged with a bit more enthusiasm than necessary. And thus Ayana and I were standing next to each other while Essam sat at her desk with all the air of someone fulfilling a hated responsibility.

"It's no secret that my position here is protested by the more…testosterone driven half of the board. And while many people still believe they only tried to underhand me politically, I have never told anyone they took it further than that. On my way to first fill in the position, I was attacked. It didn't take all their talking for me to figure out it was an assassination attempt. The sheer insult of it, the underhandedness, the pure EVIL behind the notion of killing me over a sexist view drove me to a point Déshawn can only truly admire with his darker side." She paused allowing my smirk to grow, even as I sensed the powers growing closer. Estimating we had about 5 minutes until they were at the edge of the academy grounds. "I beat them so quickly, so thoroughly, and so ruthlessly I was horrified at what I was capable of. I vowed never to lose my composure like that again. I was fortunate enough to meet a sage who was wise enough to teach me to control my emotions, and maintain a firm mental hold on any situation I come into."

"A hold bound to be tested in about 4 and a half minutes," I interjected.

"Indeed."

"Who was this sage?" Ayana asked.

"Let me guess," I speak up. "Adisa Abrafo."

"I'm impressed," Essam admits. "How did you know?"

"Well, I think he's the only person I've ever encountered who might possibly be as smart as you," I shrug. "Plus I'm guessing you assigned the team mentors for a good reason. If he could help you, he was bound to do wonders with me right?"

"Yes well, to compare his wisdom with mine is an honor I do not feel worthy of quite yet." She bowed her head as if in respect for a moment. "That man is the only reason they weren't able to cut me off from this position legally."

"Back to the story?" Ayana pressed.

"Well, as expected they continued backdoor diplomatic and political attempts to impeach my position. And I fear Dabir may have given them just such a channel, but because of their history for trying to oust me, they can't suddenly scream I'm 'unfit' and hope for success." She smirks a bit. "Thus, here we are. They're sending 5 political officials who are to instate certain policies and rules that will help quell incidents like the episode with Dabir. And name new leadership if 'necessary'"

"Which is their way of saying ASAP," I growl, my fist clenching as I sense the officials reach the edge of the school grounds.

"For now, I simply want you two to act as bodyguards while I meet them. When they tried to kill me there was only two of them, but I fear that put together, they could make fairly short work of me." Essam admits.

"We'll see about that," Ayana adds in, her blue, smoke-like aura suddenly blazing into existence as well.

* * *

The Academy Board official's seemed to be about as diverse a group of white men there could ever be achieved with only five persons. They were lined up in a straight line, briefcases all in their left hands, each waiting with a determined look of patience. But there business mannerisms were where the similarities ended. The first man I noticed was short, only coming up to about my chest if that high, and very pudgy. His skin to be wrapped around his girth like saran wrap, which gave him an overly oily look, and it, seemed to match his personality as well as hair. The next man about average size, as if he were the standard model for most men to be based off of. He was a inch or so shorter then me and had a lot less muscle mass even if I could sense that in a fight he was a lot more formidable than he looked. In the middle of their formation was a tall and skinny man. He had bony fingers, long wet-looking hair, and a gaunt face that seemed to hold no happy thoughts or desires. The second to last of the officials was huge in general terms. Not overly large, but he did indeed seem like a scaled down version of Kale. He was tall, bulky, and his face even had thicker-than-usual eyebrows. And the last, and seemingly least, of the group was a small man. His face seemed to be the human version of a rodent and his eyes were extremely shifty and he looked extremely jumpy. He was about the height of the first man, and weighed about as much as the second official, making him look very frail.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, I am Master Essam Maysa. These are my most personal guard's Déshawn Jackson-Maysa and Ayana Kengi." Essam introduces us, bowing slightly. Ayana and I however, remain in our intimidating postures with our arms folded.

"We know of you very well Master Maysa," the short pudgy man brushed off the introduction in a deep voice. He extended his arm and shook Essam's hand. "I'm Tynok Savoit. These are my four brothers, as well as Academy Board officials."

The average sized official spoke up in a feminine sounding voice, "I'm Aprechel Savoit." He shook Essam's hand as well.

The dull and mimed greeting's continued until the last 3 identified themselves as Kulner Savoit, the thin, gaunt looking official, Havnar Savoit, the mini-Kale brother, and Cersint Savoit, who looked like a rat.

"I trust you have a basic idea of why we're here, but we'll explain the details a bit more." Aprechel began in a businesslike tone. "We'll be observing the classroom sessions, arena matches, and mentor-based trainings rating each individually then all together for a cumulative evaluation that will be submitted to the board for a final vote and decision."

"You will, of course, inform me of such observational plans." Essam responds in a firm tone.

"I'm afraid not," come the sly voice of Tynok. "You see, we wish to observe your educational procedures in their natural format. And if you're warning the teachers and students, we can't rely on our results."

"I disagree," Ayana piped up quickly, erasing the dark scowl from Essam's face. "Everyone pretty much knows you're here. It's hard not to sense such high power level's and a lot of the students have scouters like us."

The officials all smirk in a self-satisfied way as Ayana strokes their egos while feigning ignorance to it.

"So pretty much everyone is nervous, if Master Essam is allowed the opportunity to let everyone know it's a pretty relaxed process and that you're not gonna be really intrusive about it, you're likely to get a better reaction then the uptight environment that's probably permeating as we speak." Ayana continued brilliantly, and I even found myself impressed.

"Yes well," Tynok paused for a moment, very wrong-footed at the strength the argument presented him with. "Our mandate requires us to perform random and regular checks."

"Which is an oxymoron by nature," I pointed out.

"We have procedures to follow," Kulner's low hissing voice sounded agitated.

"Gentlemen, if you resigned yourselves to following strictly procedures I doubt they'd allow 5 brother's on a simple assignment that barely requires the presence of one," Essam concluded the conversation firmly. "But I will allow you to observe as your…mandate…deems necessary."

"Thank you for your cooperation Miss Maysa." Aprechel bowed with a would-be charming voice.

"That's Master," my knuckles popping loudly as I balled my right fist up. "To the five of you."

"My apologies," Tynok stepped in as the peacemaker, and bowed with an ingratiating smile.

The other three bow and all of them leave the room, even as I finished tapping on my scouter to read their various power levels. Cersint who, along with Havnar, hadn't said a word, registered at a fairly high power level of 1,000,000. The next weakest, was Kulner the pallid faced sadist, as I'd come to figure him as, had a power level of 1,500,000. The conceited pretty boy, Aprechel, was next whom I pegged at a fairly strong power level of 2,500,000. Tynok, who I assumed to be the oldest of the brothers and their leading figure, had a really strong energy reading, of at least 3,000,000. But Havnar blew me away, I had double-checked his power level to be sure but there was no mistake. The quiet, reserved, and seemingly non-combative Havnar registered at a stunning 5,000,000. I turned and looked at Ayana who hadn't bothered to scan their power levels at all, and tapped my scouter. I looked her over with a blank stare at the false 100,000 reading, and then she notices my odd look.

"What?"

"Let me see your real power." I demand, double tapping the scouter to set it to read approaching powers.

Rolling her eyes for a moment she relaxes her ki-based blocks and her energy rockets, counting up past 500,000 and I tweak an eyebrow at the massive shift in power she was showing. I knew that she could suppress her energy; I knew that she hadn't even used all of her power against Aliikai last year, and after she offered to be my partner I had even suspected that she'd been training with my mother. But when her power level registered at a innate level of 800,000 I had to feel pretty sure that she could probably push it past that with a little bit of ease.

"That's…better." I answer, a little put-off by the untrustworthiness of my scouter with her.

"Anytime sweet-ums." She takes up her annoying habit of flirting with me as she re-suppresses her power.

"Well, should we go watch them?" I asked, my aura flaring up with devious intentions.

"No, they're watching us. Why waste the energy chasing your tail?" Essam smiled slightly as if she missed strategizing covertly.

I didn't wait around for anymore words, didn't need to, and Ayana seemed content with trailing me, making snide pokes at my hormones and natural male urges. By now, I've learned to ignore them for the most part, but they don't do much to quell the rumors that have festered about Ayana and I. It even seemed that Ayana was seen with me more than Edana, and I grit my teeth as this revelation surfaced.

"Ayana, I need you to leave me alone for a while," I say in a serious voice. "I'm going to visit Edana, to make sure she's fine after her seizures."

"And suck on-oh, ok." She stopped, surprised at the soberness of my voice. No anger, aggression, humor, laughter, or any hint that the situation was anything but dire.

She knew the limits and she knew better than to push me past them. Somebody had learned from Dabir very well. So mid-sexual provocation she switches gears and wanders off, wondering if she had anyone in the world besides Déshawn. The shocking truth and sheer irony of the thought made her hesitate and almost profess an undying-no. Short of killing Edana he wouldn't even care about her beyond their occupational relationship. But, she licked her lips seductively, making several younger and more observant students find their bodies involuntarily embarrassing them, she would make sure it was a relationship Déshawn remembered.

* * *

It was a rare time for me, I was scared and there was nothing my impressive arsenal of powers could do to save me. I would have to face this fear, of what I would encounter when I got to Edana's bed, alone. But I still had to face it, and so I continued through the hallways, ignoring the extra glances I seemed to receive nowadays, and reach the door of the hospital wing of the school. Opening it I see a nurse standing over Edana's bed, grimacing a bit at the sight, and quickly make my way over.

"She's doing fine, it was only a moderate episode. But she should try and avoid any mental burdens for a while." The nurse said, with a clear dislike for me from last year.

I couldn't have cared less at the moment, "I know. Can you leave us alone for now?"

"No matter how much against my instinct it is, yes." The nurse smiled gently, if sternly.

After she'd left, Edana peeked open an eye and gave up her pretense of sleep.

"You finally came to see me," Edana smiled, sitting up a bit. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too," I cocked half a smile then leaned forward and kissed her lightly. "You realize, in the next few weeks, a storm is going to explode around here?"

"I've been out of it, that nurse isn't much of a news anchor." Edana laughed. "And I've been itching for some action since that…nightmare."

"You mean prediction?" I corrected her.

"I hope not," she sighed. Her hand, that I'd subconsciously grabbed, twitched a bit.

"Come on, get up. You don't need to be in a damn bed," I grab her hand and pull her to her feet. "You're a warrior, not a patient."

"Hero or not," I hear the voice of the nurse behind me again. I make a note to double tap my scouter so I can avoid another undetected approach. "If you take her out of here I'll see to it that you both become patients."

"I think you," I tug on Edana's hand a bit more, and she get up from the bed completely. I flatten my palm towards Nurse Grizela, ki blurring into existence dangerously. "Need to be patient."

* * *

"You sure you should be fighting so soon?" I asked, cracking my knuckles.

Edana had taken me directly to the workout room Adisa had customized for Team Halima. She wore a tight tank top and sweatpants that fit loosely around her body, except at her hips, where they hugged her curves tightly.

"Stop trying to back out Mr. Super Sayjin," she taunted, a pink battle aura exploding around her.

"Very well," I balled my fists and struck a fighting stance.

Smiling, with half satisfaction, she rushed in at me. I leaned back and her leading hook missed completely. I raised my right arm, easily blocking the next kick she threw. Pushing against her stomach I shoved her back a few feet, but she flipped backwards and recovered. Her glare spoke volumes however, and the angry torrent she gave me next was pretty unnecessary.

"What the fuck was that?" she growls.

"What was what?" I ask, genuinely confused.

"A push? What kind of Sayjin would PUSH someone in a fight?" Edana's aura explodes, tearing the floor up as her power rockets.

This time, Edana attacks me as if I was Dabir, and I could see it in her eyes. There was truly a passion in her eyes. Something inside me rose, and my black aura exploded around me but I beat it back down. I refused to set my full fury loose on her. I dodged her storm of attacks, while trying to suppress my energy, but in the end my attention was too split and focused in the wrong direction. She snapped a backhand across my face, stunning me for a brief moment, but that was enough for her relentless attack. She leaped with a spin kick to my stomach, landing and whipping a hook kick across my face.

"What are you scared of?" Edana pressed aggressively. "That you're gonna hurt me?"

"Nobody's scared," I growl.

Rolling her eyes disbelievingly she charged in at me again, this time I returned fire. I popped a quick jab at her face, but she ducked it. I predicted her response easily and slammed a knee into her chin, cocking my leg back I snapped a sidekick into her stomach rocketing her back into the wall of the training room. She wiped the trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth, and looked at it.

"Damn Déshawn, I should be spitting out blood by now." Edana taunted me again.

"What do you want from me?" I finally relented.

"A fight?" She laughed. "But let's start with competition first."

"Should I try to kill you? Would you prefer that?" I shot back.

"Déshawn, trying to kill me or not, we both know that last year that knee to my face would've turned into some gut wrenching combo." Edana approached me, the aggressiveness evaporated from her voice. "Are you trying to not hurt me?"

I opened my mouth to respond, and then I mulled her words over truly.

"You're not helping me by pushing on me. You have to push my limits, not my body." Edana was now right in my face, her body nearly against mine. "I'd rather you try to kill me than someone like Dabir or a corrupt government official. If you push me, I'll get stronger, if they push me, I'll die."

"Edana, I just can't bring myself to…let it all loose. I have no idea if I can truly stop it. I hadn't bothered to try it against Dabir and look what I did to him. I humiliated him, toyed with him, beat him till he was defenseless, then finished him and his partner off at once." I sighed, my black aura dropping. "I can't bring myself to set that kind of power loose on you."

"Perhaps I can help," Essam's voice emanates one of giving an ending order. "Edana that's quite enough."

"Anytime Master Essam," she smiled in a friendly manner and left like nothing had happened.

A confused eyebrow twitched on my face until I realized that Essam had told Edana to try and press my buttons to fight all out against her. A smirk curled on my face, "are you trying to get her killed?"

"Trust me, she's more than capable of handling you." Essam smiled back gently. "Even if you turned Super Sayjin, your mind would have never let you kill or seriously injure her."

Thinking for a moment, the scenarios playing out in my head, then I chuckled, "you're just batting a thousand aren't you?"

"I couldn't run this school otherwise." She smirked, an arrogant smile cracking on her face.

The expression stirred a memory in the back of my mind. I'd seen a smirk of superiority like that on her face only one other time.

"I never really helped you control your power last year, only bring it out," Essam explained, positioning herself a few feet in front of me. "So let's finish your training."

"More rock training?" I raised an eyebrow, seriously doubting that the rocks could really keep up with me now.

"You wish I would go that easy on you," Essam dropped into a fighting stance, a look entering her eyes that made me recall what she did to me last time I fought her.

A chill shot down my spine and I entered an identical stance, taught to me by her, my ki level shooting up.


	3. Set Up

"This is getting ridiculous," I muttered, wiping the blood from the corner of my mouth as I sat back up.

I wasn't sure I had understood Essam fully when she told me that she wasn't going to hold back. We had been fighting for at least 40 minutes; I had managed to land 5 decent hits on her, and I was getting my ass handed to me. It wasn't because I lacked the skill, or speed, or power to match her, but I lacked the will to hurt my mother. I mean, it's easy for everyone to go "all out" against me, when they know there's no way they can seriously injure or kill me. But I could wipe the entire academy out of existence and all it took was a slip of control on my part. It was hard to accept the truth but I feared my power, and everyone else should. Essam was moving quickly towards me, gliding along the ground weaving back and forth dodging the ki blasts I was letting loose at her. She was back in my face again, and snapped an elbow at my face. I jerked my head to the side easily as she followed up with a knee to my stomach. I accepted the blow as I was thrown back several yards. But this gave me space to work with, and I met the advancing sage with a rocketing uppercut. She yelped in surprise and flew in an arc backwards reeling from the sudden blow. My heart twisted in guilt as my body reflexively followed up the attack with a ball of energy that caught her right before she hit the ground, and blew her backwards some more. I leaped into the air and quickly flew over to her, landing next to her motionless body. She tried to sweep my feet out but I leapt deftly and returned fire with a kick to her face that sent her flying several more feet.

"Stop cringing every time you hit me." Essam pointed out roughly.

"Mother Essam, all it would take is a slip of my hand," I answer, ki exploding on my right fist as I waved it to encompass the main academy building. "And I could wipe this school out of existence."

"Then maybe I'd better teach you to lace your shoes before you run in them," she throws a simple metaphor my way. "Come with me."

* * *

I was lying in my bed thinking about the wisdom of snatching Edana from Nurse Grizela when I heard a light tapping at the door. Reaching out with my mind I raised an eyebrow as I recognize the fluid ki of Ayana. I open the door and find myself looking at a caramel skinned, silver haired, hazel eyed, and nearly disrobed beauty. She was wearing a pink mini skirt and black tank top that squeezed her lean upper body that had the words "Play Time" across her well-developed chest. My body nearly betrays my first thought when Ayana finally spoke.

"You miss me?" Ayana's soft, seductive voice breaks my train of thought, luckily for her.

"_Fine," _I think with a slight smirk. _"Let's see how much you wanna play with me."_

"You have no idea," I grab her around the waist roughly, and pull her into the room.

"Ooh baby I knew you'd come around," she nearly squealed as her body pressed against mine.

Something in the back of my mind sparked, and I realized there was another pronounced ki signature outside of the room that I didn't recognize.

"It took you long enough to get that beautiful body up here," I smirked back.

Opening the door to my room I laid Ayana on my bed, and pinned her wrists above her head with my right hand. Lying on top of her, I watched her smirk grow, as she wiggles her body under me and I lean down as if to kiss her. Her eyes drift closed and she tilts her head forward to return the favor.

"Damn you're faithful. You can't even pretend to seduce me." Ayana's smile seems to grow even more at the pronouncement.

"Why, do you incessantly toy with my hormones, when you know I'm a committed man?" I ask, my voice not really conveying the annoyance I have at her. At the moment, it's more focused on the helpless position I have her in.

"Mmm," she moans softly, pressing her body against me even more some how. "Why do your hormones toy with me?"

I roll off of Ayana, almost reluctantly, and lift her into a sitting position by her arms, still holding her wrists together. I glare at her for a second when I sense the same ki outside my only window, which happens to overlook the courtyard. I whip my head around to try and spot the spy but all I see is the blur of someone disappearing. The blonde haired fighter, who was wearing a blue gi, somehow seemed familiar, but I couldn't place him at the time. When you've got the most beautiful woman on the continent, in your bedroom, and her hands firmly secured, you don't really take note on details beyond that.

"You know you don't have to hold my hands," Ayana stands up, walking towards me slowly, with a pronounced sway in her hips. "I won't fight you off."

I let go of her arms slowly, even as her implications send another chill of fantasy down my spine.

"Get out."

"Love you," Ayana blows a kiss at me, and then walks out of my room as if nothing had happened.

* * *

My mind is in a swirl as I stand in the shower, washing off the smell from my battle with Essam, as well as relax my body from my encounter with Ayana. It's hard to stay faithful, as she had put it, when she seemed after me more than my own girlfriend. I wasn't upset with Edana, or Ayana even; I knew exactly why she hadn't been. In fact I even felt guilty for thinking about the situation like that, but if I was to analyze my life properly, I couldn't play "favorites". But then, there was the whole deal with Edana being in the dark about my current mental turmoil, she was more likely preoccupied with her foreseeing my death. I paused; cutting the water off as I dried myself, wondering exactly how bad my death had been, in her vision. It couldn't have been pretty, as it'd sent her into seizures. Then I felt the same presence again at my door, this time there was a heavy banging and a loud, rapid, calling of my name. I finished drying myself as fast as I could and threw on a pair of pants from a blue gi I wear during team matches. Rushing still, as the calling at the door seemed to hold some kind of news I needed to get to quickly, I opened the door only to find Jerek's flushed face.

"Déshawn, there's two guys chasing Edana in the courtyard!" He breathed out immediately. "Come on!"

He took off without waiting for me, but he knew there was no need. I tore off down the hallway after him in such a manner that if someone were to glance without really paying attention, it would've looked like I was trying to kill him. The walls seemed to peel off as I whipped past them, a black aura exploding around me in the process. Jerek and I burst into the courtyard, only to find it fairly calm and I looked around in confusion. Edana was walking towards the dormitory, but she noticed our exit from the building and her eyes widened in surprise. I turned towards Jerek for a moment, about to rend his body to pieces, when I sensed two enormous power levels. Both of them equal to, or higher than my own resting energy level. I whipped my head back around, and spotted two figures approaching Edana from behind, one very tall and thin, the other was small in general.

"Edana, behind you!" I heard Jerek yell out the warning, before the thought had even formed in my mind.

I leapt into the air, until I had a decent angle at the attackers, my ki gathering easily, as I'd already powered up before the figures had begun to approach Edana.

"SHINING RAGE!"

I whipped the attack off my hands easily right as Edana lowered her head quickly. She looked behind herself to see who was after her, then her eyes turned back towards me.

"Déshawn don't-!"

Immediately, I realized something was wrong just as the feeling that someone was setting me up began to churn in my gut. Then the massive ball of golden ki reached its target and I cringed as Cersint and Kulner Savoit were sent rocketing back across the academy grounds. Then I winced again as the attack exploded, throwing chunks of dirt and grass into the air and smoke billowed out across the school grounds. Landing, in an embarrassed rage I turned towards Jerek.

"The fuck was that about Jer-?" I stopped short as I realized the suddenly-friendly-and-helpful Jerek Damois, was nowhere to be found.


	4. Chained

"Master Essam, I must say that I'm a bit more than disturbed at this turn of events. I'm downright worried." Tynok was the only one of the Savoit's present, as the other 4 were attending Cersint in the hospital wing. "While I understand his position as a guardian, I can see no reason he should've assumed that two school board officials would attack a student here, unprovoked."

"I agree, wholeheartedly. So believe me when I say that this matter will not be swept under the proverbial rug, and that I intend to treat this matter as bright lights treat photo development." Essam said, with a pointed glare at me.

"And while I'm sure that notion will have the force of your actions behind it, I've already been given a solution." Tynok's sly voice turned to one of confidence, and victory as he produced 2 steel, plain, pieces of metal that looks like wide bracelets. Each one was big enough to cover the majority of my lower forearm and wrist. "You can understand the speed with which I called the headquarters, considering the severity of the situation, and they have approved one of the more…creative ways of dealing with such recklessness."

"Those will not be necessary," the sharp tone in Essam's voice, seemed to convey to me an urgency that I not allow myself to be put into whatever the device is. "Such a transgression is an isolated incident, and completely understandable considering how unfamiliar you are to the environment at this establishment as well as personnel I've appointed to uphold and maintain the security of such an atmosphere."

"Now, now, Master Essam. I understand your concern, but my orders have been given. I'm sorry." Tynok said. "Déshawn will you please hold out your wrists for me?"

My arms folded and a black aura exploded around me as my ki level rocketed. Tynok set the manacle's down on the chair behind him and in walked his other four brothers.

"Déshawn, let's be reasonable. These ki manacles will only suppress a small portion of your energy so that you'll be a bit more…controlled. And let's be honest," Tynok allowed himself an arrogant smirk. "I don't think you have the power to fight all 5 of us."

"Let's be reasonable? I don't think you have the power to fathom what I'm capable of." I balled my fists tightly, knuckles popping at the same time, as I dropped into a fighting stance.

"Very well."

At those words, Kulner suddenly took off, seemingly eager to extract his revenge against me. But he wasn't Edana, nor was he Essam. And I had no problems with holding back against him. But I stopped my fist in mid-swing, as Essam was suddenly between us as she held back Kulner's attack with a calm fist.

"Outside."

* * *

"Last chance to go about this like a reasonable human being." Tynok offered in a would-be gracious voice.

I spit at his feet harshly. "Don't associate me with your pathetic kind."

"You son of a-!" Kulner launched himself at me once more.

I slammed a rocketing fist into his jaw sending him backwards hard enough to give a lesser man severe enough whiplash to change the quality of the rest of his life.

"Finish that sentence, and I will wipe your entire gene pool off the face of history." I growled, my pent up rage finally boiling over.

Finally Aprechel joined in, and I power up completely as I danced through their attacks quickly. But I didn't waste anytime on the defensive. As I blocked Kulner's roundhouse aimed at my head, I flipped my wrist so that I could attain a grip on his leg. Then I quickly twisted my body swinging Kulner around slamming him into Aprechel who was caught in the middle of another punch at my face.

"Cersint, don't just stand there. Restrain him!" Tynok yelled at his ratty looking brother.

He charged in, very reluctantly, his fists half-cocked. Unfortunately for him, his hesitation gave me all the time I needed to concoct some sort of plan for him.

"Shocking," a huge purple and black ball of ki sprang to life on my two palms. "FURY!"

The bolt of electric energy slammed into the charging man and caught him square in the face and chest, lifting him off of his feet and sending him flying into the distance.

"SCOUTER'S STRIKE!" I heard Tynok yell.

I turned just as the bolt of green ki nearly hit me in the face but I leaned backwards quickly, dodging the attack with mere inches to spare. Then I sensed the attack curve back around and fly at my spine. I leaped into a backflip, as ki gathered within me, and I landed with my palms extended yet again.

"SHADOW BURN!"

The dark purple ball of ki slammed into the contrasting green energy from Tynok, and his own attack catches him full in the face, even as my attack begins to assert it's burning presence. There's a loud yell of pain as Tynok is blown off in the same general direction Cersint, Kulner and Aprechel had just been sent.

"That…" Havnar's deep voice catches my attention. He'd been stationary and quiet during the entire fight, so far. I had completely forgotten he was even there. "That was some of the most efficient fighting I've seen in a long time. I'm impressed."

"I'm not here to show-off." I maintain a fighting stance.

"If you were, you most likely wouldn't have disposed of my brother's so quickly." I see Havnar extend his hands, showing me the two ki-manacles that his brother's had neglected to bring. "Just like my brother's would have tried to slip these on you, rather than try and render you unconscious first."

"Now I'm impressed," I admit to him.

"Prepare yourself."

My battle aura re-ignites around my body and Havnar takes off at me, foregoing any opportunities to power up, even though I provided it to him in spades. He swings a slow kick at my head, which I easily avoid, but he combos it into an axe-kick, bringing it down on my lowered head. From the awkward squatting position he'd caught me in, all I had time to do was snap my hands up into an upward cross block and stop the heavy limb from crushing me and compressing my spine. As soon as his foot was resting on me, I felt something cold clamp onto my left forearm with a snap. Fire ignited in my eyes as fury rose inside of me at the trap I had just fallen for. With a yell, I threw him into the air just as he tried to slip the second manacle on me. But the damage had been done, and I fell to my knees as I felt my ki being more than suppressed. It was pushed down to the point I was damn near out of touch with my own energy.

"You…bastards."

"This is coming from someone that attacked my brothers for no reason." Havnar chuckled as he lifted my right arm easily overpowering me this time.

I tried to yank my fist out of his unyielding grip, and when that didn't work I let loose a ki blast. But the ki-manacles performed their sick duty without a single mistake, and the attack I let loose wouldn't have been enough to tear through a silk shirt. And so I was helpless as he clamped the second manacle on, and I collapsed completely this time, as the pain of my energy being sapped overtook me again. Then I heard 4 pairs of feet land in a makeshift circle around me. My mind was alight with the fire of pain, and panic. I was now surrounded by 5 powerful, both physically and politically, men. All of whom I'd insulted, and all of whom I'd struck in one way or another. Then I saw a thin leg step into my view as I felt my body convulse in pain a bit more. The long foot lifted off the ground for a moment and slammed into my face. I let out a yell of pain as I felt blood squirt from my nose, but it didn't seem to be broken, yet. My yell quickly gave way to a pitiful moan for help that was barely heard by even my attackers. All I could do was pray to Kami that Essam decided to randomly check on things. I couldn't even summon the power to transform into a Super Sayjin and possibly mount some kind of defense that could allow me to escape. Then the same foot slammed into my ribs, throwing me across the ground a few feet, and rolling me out of the group. Then I saw his evil face lean down into mine.

"My pathetic kind huh? You couldn't stop me from killing you if Kami himself stepped in. So where would that put you on the universal scale of pathetic-ness?" Kulner sneered, as blood drooled from my mouth.

"Kami? The fates have something much more cruel in store for you," came a hiss of anger from behind me.

I couldn't muster the strength to turn my head and look, but I could recognize the voice. At least I thought I could recognize the voice. But it was shaking so violently from the rage in it, that it was hard to even make the voice out as human. If it was a human's voice however, then I was sure it belonged to Chafulumisa Adofo.

Kulner opened his mouth to respond but he was cut off forcefully, and I looked up to see a knee planted into his stomach. I was never sure if Chafulumisa could be angry. He was usually a goofy person; he hadn't even lost control during my fight with Dabir, choosing instead to criticize my mistakes. But now, the only thing that seemed to be keeping Chafulumisa in control was the need for my safety.

The fact that Chafulumisa had just covered nearly 5 yards, and struck him with enough strength to double him over, in less time than it took for him to even begin to vocalize a word, was astounding. It was beyond comprehension. The look in the smaller fighter's eyes froze him in for several more moments. By the time he could fathom some kind of response, let alone defense and counterattack, he was reeling with a broken nose and what sounded like several cracked ribs, as well as a few bruises on his torso. He stumbled backwards as his injuries finally registered in his mind, and he let out a yell of pain. Aprechel and Cersint were about to leap at Chafulumisa when Havnar and Tynok stopped them.

"Kulner lost control again, he brought this on himself." Tynok explained to Aprechel and Cersint's confused looks. "He will face the consequences of his mistakes alone."

"Kulner, cool it," Havnar called to his older brother. "We finished what we came for."

"Shut up! He'll pay for that!" Kulner's hiss seemed more like a screech now as he charged back in.

Chafulumisa flexed his fists as Kulner moved closer to him, and leaned back a few inches. The punch fell short of Adofo's jaw by a finger-length, but the counterattack was supremely more effective. Grabbing Kulner's extended fist, Chafulu cocks his leg back and fires off a powerful sidekick that breaks at least 2 of Kulner's ribs and causes a yell of pain that echoes across the courtyards and more than likely interrupted classes again. Another moan of pain escapes me and Chafulumisa releases Kulner's arm allowing him to collapse to the ground, as he turns to check on my state.

"No," I groan as my body quivers under the receding agony. "Fuck that…let 'em have it."

"Come here," Chafulumisa grabs my arm and hangs it over his shoulder as he lifts off and floats back to the school.

* * *

Chafulumisa knew that he should've returned straight to class after he'd left Déshawn with a disgruntled Nurse Grizela, but Academy Board officials or not, just WHAT was Master Essam thinking letting those five creeps fight her favorite student alone? He intended to find out.

"Master Essam! We have a problem!" Chafulumisa burst into his principal's office.

Looking up with glistening eyes, Master Essam greeted Chafulumisa, "and what would that be?"

"How could you let those 5 bastards jump Déshawn and attach that ki-sucking device?" Chafulumisa yelled ignoring the apparent tears in his principal's eyes.

"I did not, under any circumstances, let them attach their overpowered ki manacles. But I cannot allow my position to be compromised or every single student here will face a far worse fate. While I love Déshawn like the son he is to me, they have legitimate approval from the Board and I will not go against them, or I fear they will have all they need to extradite me from my position. If I were to allow myself to be removed from my position, just to protect Déshawn then the rest of the school would fall under their rule. I refuse to subject the rest of you to such tyranny just for Déshawn's sake." Master Essam's voice quivered with a repressed sob. "He would be free to leave this school and live his life with me, but I would not be able to play guardian to all the students. You see I love the petals on the flower. But I also appreciate the stem, the roots, the seeds, and even the bee's that spread their pollen."

Caught off guard by her calm response, the analogy with the flower, but mostly by the shining tears in her eyes, Chafulumisa hesitated for a second.

"I'm sorry I lost it." He muttered then turns and left to return to class.

"Please don't apologize," Essam whispered to the empty room. "Your rage at me is a far kinder treatment than I deserve for what I will soon be forced to subject my son to."

* * *

I knocked on the door, letting out a frustrated and exhausted sigh, as I waited for Edana to answer the door. My hands shook slightly, even though my body wasn't quite as weak after Adisa had adjusted the manacles to the appropriate strength, but I relied on my energy so much that without it, I was nothing. Edana opened the door with a heavy jerk, and I raised an eyebrow at the angry gesture, but she stopped short realizing who it was.

"Déshawn, hi." She breathed, relieved.

"What was that about?" I asked, stepping inside.

"I thought you were some first year coming to bother me, and I'm not in the mood." She explained. "Kami, Déshawn I can't even sense your energy anymore, it's so faint."

"I feel faint." I said honestly. "I couldn't arm wrestle Samantha if she let me use both hands."

"Come here, I think I can help you," she said leading me to her room.

"No," I pulled back gently. "If you use any of your energy on me, the manacles will just suck it all out."

"I thought you had Adisa look at them."

"Well, I did but as he said these are School Board issued ki manacles, so he wasn't able to tone them down completely. At least I can function now though."

"This is wrong! Why are they doing this?" Edana raged in an inappropriately controlled voice.

"They have a pretty good idea what I mean to Essam. If they hurt me bad enough she'll eventually step in, and then they'll go after her and kick her out of her hard-earned position." I explained. "That's why she let them all fight me to put them on."

"Oh Kami. Déshawn, what are you gonna do?" Edana asked, wrapping her arms around me, her head resting on my chest.

"First, I need to deal with Jerek. That fucker set me up and I need to get him out of my way, distractions are the last thing I need." I said holding her. "How are you? I know how tough it's getting on you."

"Tough? I've never heard such an understatement." Edana chuckled. "I can't get this vision out of my head, it's driving me crazy."

"When you first told me about your vision, I began to worry about it as well. But I realized my mother was right 'a true warrior does not fear death, nor does he resign himself to it. A fool runs from his demise, or does not believe in it's potential'." I quoted Essam Maysa perfectly. "I'll deal with your vision when it starts to come true."

"I suppose, but for now we need to get you your strength back," she said. "Let's hit the training room."

"First Jerek, then I'll workout." I stood, fire burning in my eyes. "I'll be back in 37 minutes and 45 seconds."

"And what if you take 37 minutes and 46 seconds?" Edana asked the obvious.

I leaned in and kissed her briefly, "then stop me from killing him."

I walk down the stairs and spot Nani sitting at her desk serenely, serene to the trained eye. She seems disturbed by something, but I honestly don't care. I'd kind of grown apart from her ever since last year, so rather than ask what was wrong, like I normally would've, I proceed with my current plan.

"Nani, where's Jerek?" I ask in a voice that masked my intentions perfectly.

"He's outside…I think…sparring one of his friends in the arena," Nani answers in a quaking voice.

"You okay?" I raise a questioning eyebrow before leaving.

"Huh?"

"You alright?"

"Oh…y-yeah."

"Ok, let me know if you need anything." I shrug and walk outside.

I easily spot my target in the arena fighting what looked like to be two of his pals. My eyes narrow and I prepare to float over but as soon as my feet lift off of the ground I fall back to one knee as I realize the effort flying now takes. I hear laughing as Jerek notices my plight, and a rage boils up inside of me at his mocking. I get up and walk into the arena, pointedly ignoring his two friends as they flank me, forming a sort of triangle around me.

"Look, buddy. I'm really sorry man. I saw those two creeps following Edana and didn't know who they were." Jerek's starts off his false apology, "I mean, they looked pretty shady."

"The only shady one around here is you," I growled, raising my two forearms. "And your bullshit got me stuck into these!"

"Wow," Jerek's friendly persona slides off of his face like a liquid mask. "I would've thought the Déshawn 'The Great Super Sayjin' Jackson would be able to keep himself out of such restraints."

"Damn the restraints, I'm going to beat you unconscious, even with your friends around." I drop into a fighting stance.

"Yeah, there's just one problem with your little restraints there," Jerek walks towards me until he's within arms reach of me. "The older ki manacles were designed so that you couldn't use your energy at all. The next set would get stronger every time you used your ki, so the more ki you used, the more is absorbed out of you. The latest set fixed a problem with the ki manacles that came before them."

"What does this have to do with anything?" I asked, suddenly confused.

"Well the 2.0 manacles would absorb ANY energy, even the ki of someone attacking the prisoner. Thus, outside forces also made the ki manacles absorb your energy, but the newest ones are fitted to only get stronger when the prisoner uses his ki." Jerek holds up a glowing palm to my face. "Guess which ones you're wearing."

As I absorbed the information the bolt of ki suddenly shot out at my face, out of pure reflex I snapped my arms up in a cross in front my face to block the shot. But rather than feel the energy burn my arms and dissipate there wasn't even the slightest bit of pressure, but the ki manacles were glowing gold. Then I felt a burning in the core of my being and let out a yell as Jerek's energy provoked the ki manacles to absorb more of my ki. I fell to one knee for a second, but I manage to get back up shakily. As I stand to my full height, I see another golden bolt of ki aimed at my face and Jerek smirks sadistically.

"So, how many more can you block until you end up dying?" he asks.

"How do you know all this?" I ask in a weak voice.

"That fool Tynok was so happy that he got to slap some manacles on you and piss off Essam that he was about to use the third generation clamps, but I told him that I would take you out of his way if he got the second version on you. And lo and behold!" Jerek snapped off another ki blast at my face that I barely managed to block again. The same effect resulted as the fiery pain within me doubled in intensity and I fell to my hands and knees again. "That idiot managed to get it right."

I force myself to my feet again; this time my arms shaking violently as I'm barely able to support my own weight. I back up away from Jerek and drop into a fighting stance. I almost called upon my ki to power up, but stopped realizing what most likely would happen. Then I sense one of Jerek's friends charge in at me…


	5. Costly Freedom

I ducked under the attack blindly and snapped a reverse thrust kick out behind me, but my leg was grabbed forcefully and I felt him lift my body into the air. My eyes grew wide in shock as Jerek swung me in a wide circle over his head before slamming me down heavily. The arena cracked under the impact of my spine and I felt air squeezed out of my lungs as my organs were shaken up by the brutality being inflicted upon them. I tasted blood in my mouth and spit it out to the side, which was immediately followed by another body-racking cough that ejected even more blood. I looked up with a moan of pain and blurry eyes as Jerek approached me; his grin seemed to be more fitting of a student who'd just received perfect marks on a test. He walked over to me slowly and picked me up by my collar and an evil grin curled on his face.

"And so brains once again defeats sheer brawn." Jerek smirks.

As Jerek stands over me, deadly ki glowing in his hands he suddenly turns around, and I sensed two powers land behind him. One belonged to Samantha but the other was only vaguely familiar. As Jerek spun around completely I saw the black haired, blue-eyed Rebecca Jenson. I only knew her as a nosy girl, from last year, and thought it made sense for her and Samantha to be friends, but at the moment I was just glad to see them.

"What…the hell…is going on?" Rebecca asked aloud, to nobody in general.

I rolled my eyes; her first sentence would have to be a question. And a stupid question at that.

"Just a little fight gone terribly downhill for Déshawn," Jerek laughed as Samantha took a fighting stance.

"I doubt it, only Chafulumisa could beat Déshawn alone," Samantha argues back.

I rolled my eyes again, if Jerek didn't beat me to it, I would have to smack them myself.

"Kill them," Jerek ordered his two friends.

Nodding obediently, they both took off snapping out a ki blast at each of them. They yelped and leapt out of the way, barely avoiding the direct hit. Then Samantha leapt up rushing one of the red-haired boys, throwing an elbow at his stomach. But he blocks it easily and counters by lifting her into the air and throwing her over his shoulder. Whipping a ki blast out behind him, he caught Samantha before she hit the ground and sent her flying even further. She lands behind me with a loud "oof" and groans as she pushes herself back to her feet. I turned back to Rebecca who seemed to be fairing a lot better. She was frantically defending against the vicious double-team that was now being pressed against her, but she couldn't keep it up forever. I staggered to my feet again then I took off, rushing into the fight all the poise of having my full capabilities. I whip a kick at the spine of Jerek's nearest companion only to have it blocked by his partner. I duck under his counter-punch and Rebecca slips a kick into his ribs. I spin into a reverse sweep, taking out the remaining fighter's legs then I lift my leg up before dropping a heavy axe-kick into his chest.

"Wow, you don't need help." Rebecca looked at me, in awe.

"Oh trust me, I do." I correct her.

As if to prove my point a ki blast from Jerek connects hard with my left side and blows me into Rebecca knocking both of us into the ground.

"He's right you know," Jerek laughs as he advances.

I growl at myself, I'd completely forgotten to keep track of the third and biggest threat in the arena. Rolling off of Rebecca quickly I see Jerek dropping from above her with a knee that was aimed for my back. I panic for a split second; I couldn't throw a ki blast to blow him away from her; so I go with the next best option. I snap my nearest leg out and kick Rebecca in the arm pushing her along the ground and causing Jerek to miss her completely. But he extends his elbow and manages to land right on my leg causing a loud snap as his weight completely snaps my shin into two pieces. I yell in pain as Jerek flips onto his feet still laughing. I look down at my leg and can see the bone sticking out of the bottom of my calf, a single rivulet of blood dripping off of the point. I float into an upright position, horrible agony shooting through my right leg. Jerek plops down in front of me with a superior smirk on his face, his two partners flanking him with sadistic looks in their face. Samantha and Rebecca land between Jerek and I, both glancing back at my leg with horrified looks on their face. I flex my arms in preparation for another painful exchange of blows, but Chafulumisa slides to a stop in front of me. I almost didn't register his appearance it had been so sudden. He flashes me a look burning with vengeance and I return it, eyes filled with gratitude. Then I lift off into the air and take off towards the school.

* * *

As the sounds of battle continue behind me, notably filled with more explosions than before, I soar through the air back towards the school. Entering the building, I start to head towards the hospital wing when I hear a scream of shock. My head snaps to the right where the sound came from and I spot a younger female student staring at my leg with a dropped jaw. My heart sinks as I realize that classes were out so that everyone could get lunch. The scream attracts everyone else's attention and the crowd gathers quickly as I'm bombarded with questions within moments.

"How did that happen?"

"Are you okay?"

"Does it hurt?"

"What does the other guy look like?"

"Déshawn actually lost?"

"Déshawn," a thin, firm hand grabs my arm as a deep bass sounds from behind me. "I've figured out how to remove your shackles."

"Lead the way Adisa." I say and quickly float after him.

* * *

Inside the training room for Team Halima, I watch Adisa as he shuts the door and locks it. He then turns to me with apologetic eyes as he eyes my leg, then glances at the shackles as if he realized they were the reason I was in such pain.

"Déshawn, I am sorry it took me so long to procure a solution. I feel such a fool now that I know what must be done," Adisa says slowly.

"Really it's okay," I wave off his apology. "How's this gonna work? Cause I'm pretty sure this is gonna involve a lot of personal effort."

"An understatement indeed." Adisa nods in agreement. "It will take complete personal involvement, I will only be here as a guide."

"To coach me outta these blasted things." I smirk a bit. "Break it down for me."

"No matter what version of these shackles Jerek has managed to con you into, they all have one thing in common: a safety feature." Adisa begins.

"Which we'll be exploiting?" I raise a mischievous eyebrow.

"Much to your suffering." Adisa nods gently. "You see, the shackles automatically shut off and detach from their subject if the subject should ever become deceased."

"So I'm gonna play dead?"

"You must suppress your ki to the point that it's undetectable by anything mechanic or organic." Adisa elaborates. "As I recall, your previous experience with Aya's ki draining abilities should provide a sufficient model for what you must do. Would you explain how you fought her off of you for me?"

"Yeah. Basically I suppressed my ki until she had to penetrate my spirit into a level that I could consciously battle her on. Then I fought back." I summarize, somewhat feebly.

"Exactly, only this is no fight. It will be strictly ki suppression." Adisa amends with an encouraging and hopeful smile. "You should know exactly what to do."

"These things are gonna…"

"Yes, the shackles will delve deeper into your ki in an effort to drain your power." Adisa confirmed grimly.

"Alright, just making sure this wouldn't be easy."

And with that I began the process, as soon as my power began to withdraw into the core of my being, I felt the constant burn of having my ki drained increase exponentially. I shook my head to clear the cobwebs and hold my focus, and soon the fiery torture was becoming nearly unbearable as the shackles tried to maintain a bead on my energy. I began to yell in pain as I continued to suppress my power, nearly dropping to my knees from the excruciating pain and lack of power. I can only hold out for a few more moments before I collapse to my knees, but the pain of falling onto my mangled leg causes my body to spasm violently as I roll onto my uninjured leg. Sweat began to seep out of my pores tentatively as my power continued it's retreat and the shackles poured on the metaphysical pursuit.

"Good! Keep your focus Déshawn!" Adisa's voice suddenly brought me back from the edge of unconsciousness. "If you pass out you will remain a slave to these bindings!"

Spurred on by his words, I forced my energy levels even lower with a second rush of effort. Sweat now dripping off of my face and arms indiscriminately, the shackles soon began to actually glow orange-red from the amount of energy they were putting out in their attempt to keep up with their, now, difficult duty. Then with one last roar of pain there was a loud snap and the shackles fell off of my wrists. I force myself back onto my left leg, then resume hovering, breathing and sweating heavily, and look at my wrists in astonishment.

"Adisa you are brilliant!" I shouted happily as I let my power return to me, without fear of being crippled again.

"Thank you, but you are far too kind." Adisa bows his head slightly in appreciation of the compliment.

"I owe you one," I say then I hear another explosion from where Chafulumisa is fighting Jerek. "But not quite as much as I owe Jerek."

* * *

Chafulumisa couldn't believe what was happening. Jerek had actually counted on his interference, and was reacting to it perfectly. He took off after the conniving fighter again who merely threw a blast of ki at him. Jerking to the side quickly, he dodged it but another bolt of energy slammed into him from the side.

"He can't possibly know which way I'm going in advance," Chafulumisa muttered as he picked himself up yet again.

"Even the fastest fighter cannot possibly dodge everything," Jerek taunts smugly.

Jerek let's off another massive barrage of ki blasts that Chafulumisa barely has time to mount a defense against. Crossing his arms in a last second block, the attacks throw Chafulumisa across the ring again. Getting up, he lets off his own rush of energy at Jerek who counters each blast with his own, but Chafulumisa had seized the opportunity to engage Jerek hand to hand again. This time, Jerek is caught off guard and loses his precious upper hand in the fight. Chafulumisa tags his jaw with a quick jab before fading in behind him suddenly and slamming a knee into his spine. As Jerek's body leans forward Chafulumisa appears in front of him again and slams a punishing roundhouse kick into his face, sending his body rocketing to the side. Then as Chafulumisa prepares to pursue and continue beating his opponent, a huge golden beam of energy slams into Jerek's chest, smashing him into the arena and causing a huge explosion. As the dust clears the small crater is filled with Jerek's unconscious body, and an enraged Déshawn floating over him.

* * *

My golden aura pulsed as I stared fiercely upon Jerek Damois through my, now, green eyes. I was halfway through deciding whether to put a Scorching Phoenix through his chest and kill him for good when a blast of ki slammed ineffectively into my side. I turn quickly and remember that he had two friends with him. The both leap at me and I twist away from the first punch, and snap my left arm up quickly to block the follow up kick. I duck under his partner's hook and lean back reflexively as he jabs at my face with his left hand. I catch his fist and twist it to the outside of his body, causing him to gasp in pain and lean into the left roundhouse kick that I swung up right as he flinched in pain. The blow landed without any sort of defense even being conceived of, and he hits the ground unconscious. I duck and spun into a sweep, making sure to use my left leg, that knocked my last opponents legs out from under him, before bringing a knee into his back as he fell to the ground. Then I dropped an elbow onto his stomach that smashed him decisively into the ground. Opening a palm over his face I let loose a final golden bolt of ki that slammed into his head knocking him out as well.

"Pitiful," I spat before turning around. I spot Chafulumisa who is watching me with unconcerned interest, "where's your girlfriend and her pal?"

"I sent them inside," He informs me. "Nice to see you're free from the cuffs of authority."

My golden aura dissipated, my hair floated out of its spiky pose, my eyes return to their normal black color and my muscles even lose some of their bulge, "That will be dealt with next."

"Like I said, it'll be nice to see. Just be sure you don't miss the fight this weekend," Chafulumisa glanced at my leg. "Cause it looks like you'll be heading into the kind of trouble that constantly seems to incapacitate you."

"I'll be there," I shoot back.

* * *

"Hmph," Nurse Grizela snorts scathingly as she bandages my leg after having set the bone back to its original position. "It is a good thing your tough as nails boy. Most people would've lost this leg if they went charging off fighting after a break like that."

"Tough as nails," I chuckle at the saying. "Please, don't insult me."

She glanced up at me for a moment; with a glare that clearly shows how much she wished I'd lost.

"So, did I get what was coming to me?" I asked her.

"I wasn't going to say that," she muttered evasively, refocusing her eyes on the medical dressings.

"That's not what I said," I correct her gently. "You're about the only person in this school that truly sees my faults. So, do you think I got what was coming to me?"

"Well, you're not all that bad. I mean you did save the school not too long ago," she says tentatively again.

"Don't bullshit me. This is a school for fighters, if it wasn't me it would've been Janiko, or Chafulu, or Edana, or Abrihet, I'm pretty sure even Mr. Jorn would've stepped up. I was just the first one to fight back." I wince as she finishes tightening the bandage. "So tell me your honest opinion, did I have this coming to me or not?"

Sighing for a moment, Nurse Grizela looks me in the eyes and nods, "Yes. You did have this coming to you. I don't hate you, if you'll believe that, but you are reckless, you have a violent streak, you don't know when to hold back, and you have no control over your own mind. I think you've slipped into this new role you've been spoon fed at this school." She sat down on a stool next to my hospital bed. "You're not the hard worker I saw last year."

"Spoon fed?" I raised a dangerous eyebrow.

"Yes. You're appointed to watch over this school like some sort of God; you get to show-off on Sundays by fighting 6 opponents simultaneously that could probably never challenge you if there were 2 of each of them. Master Essam no longer requires you to attend your classes, so you patrol this school at your leisure, and to be honest, you may have more authoritative pull then most teachers in this school." She summarized, breathing heavily as if she'd been waiting to let out her rant for a long time.

"But, like you said: I can't be that bad. Right?" I cocked a smirk at her.

"Right." She affirmed with a smile. Then looking at my leg again with an unsure grimace she looked back at me. "Are you sure you don't want a cast. It won't be on for long but I'd just feel better your leg was protected properly."

"Trust me, it's protected fine." I waved off her offer before I float off of the bed and out the door.

* * *

"Hey Nani," I wave at her as I glide into the dormitory building.

"Hey Déshawn!" She greets a bit over-anxiously. And something in her tone sounded expectant. Then she comes from behind the counter and darts in front of the door leading upstairs. "I wouldn't go upstairs if I were you."

"Come on Nani," I laugh shoving her playfully out of the way. "My leg is all fucked up. My muscles are sore, I just had the Nurse rant on me, I'm tired, and I need to talk to Essam tomorrow. If you were me, why would you do ANYTHING but go upstairs?"

"Well, I've never seen Edana mad so I almost didn't recognize it, but she is PISSED. I couldn't get any coherent details out of her, but I'm pretty sure it's something you did." Nani explained quickly, while fighting her way back in front of me. As if on cue a rumble was heard from above. "You should at least wait until the rubble settles."

"Nani, if you know what this is about, you'd better tell me." I tell the receptionist.

"I told you, all I could get out her was that it was something you did." Nani reaffirmed. "I swear."

"Fine, I'm going to go handle this," I say firmly.

"But-"

"Now."


	6. Edana vs Ayana

I floated up the stairs, tracking Edana's familiar ki to outside my dorm room, my mind racing to remember what I might have done to anger Edana. I turned the corner to see a fuming Edana. Her braids no longer pulled back in her customary ponytail, but rather allowed to hang down around her shoulders. Her eyes locked onto mine the second I turned the corner, as if her pupils were zooming in on a target to kill. A second later she whipped out a ki blast that nearly swallowed the hallway from it's sheer size and power. Her intentions seemed to be to give me nowhere to run.

"_Fine," _I think to myself. _"Let's see how rough she wants to get."_

I zap forward and lower my shoulder directly into the center of her attack. It explodes violently causing burns and craters on the walls, ceiling and floor, but I continue forward through the smoke of the detonation. Edana is caught off-guard by my aggressiveness and can't react quickly enough. My knee catches her in the abdomen causing her to gasp and double over in pain. I grab her by the shoulders and slam her roughly into the wall, anger flaring in my own eyes.

"Edana, what the fuck is your problem!" I yell at her.

Rather than respond with an explanation she snaps a kick out into my chest, forcing me to release her as my back slams into the wall behind me. Sweeping my feet out from under me she rotates her hips and leaps into an axe-kick that I barely recover in time to block. But the force of the blow still slams me into the ground hard, and I look up at Edana as she pulls 3 pieces of paper out of her pocket and throws them at me. I pick them up off the ground and open the crumpled up paper then I feel all my strength drain out of me. On the paper is a photo of Ayana and I from a couple days ago when she had come into my room as if to test my faithfulness. Also the day I sensed that power outside the room, a power I now recognized as Jerek Damois.

"Edana…" I began, unsure of how to explain to her why I was the one who was on top of Ayana. It might've been easier if the photo wasn't so out of context but in the end, there was still nothing I could say.

"So tell me Déshawn," Edana's voice trembled as tears formed in her eyes. "What the fuck is **your **problem?"

"Listen, Edana," I reached out to grab her arm but she twisted it out of my reach. I pulled my arm back and stopped, hanging my head in shame.

"At least you've got the sense to look guilty," Edana cocked her head at me. "But are you **really **ashamed?"

"Edana, whether you believe me or not, this picture is a poor representation of what truly happened that day. Ayana has this bad habit of messing around with me." I began to explain.

"So you decided to hump her into stopping?" Edana retorted. "Sex her into submission, was that your plan?"

"No, I planned to see how much of a joke it was to her," I began again, but then I stopped realizing that explanation didn't sound much better.

"So this is a joke then?" Edana snapped.

"No!" My frustration at her interjections finally manifests.

"Then what is it?" Edana asks, a bit more quietly. "Is it love?"

"No, its Ayana's sick way of seeing if what I have for you is love."

"Why the FUCK would Ayana care if you love me or not!" Edana yells at me again.

"I don't know," The question suddenly connects the convenience of Jerek and Ayana's coincidental appearance. Ayana and Edana do have a well-known hate for each other, which seemed to explain Ayana's constant flirting to me. "All I know is that what you see in that picture is entirely platonic. You're the one that I care about, and the only one that I love."

"I don't know Déshawn. When I wake up and find pictures of my supposed boyfriend on top of another woman," Edana shakes her head, tears streaming down her cheeks freely now. "Especially one of my enemies, I question more than just your love for me, but your love for her as well."

"Edana there is no-"

"Déshawn…you're the closest I ever came to true love. And it's a lot closer than you'll find anyone else willing to go."

And with that, she left me. Alone.

* * *

Edana rushed down the stairs and burst into the lobby of the dorms, trying pitifully to hide her tears of anguish from her friend Nani Moana. Nani had been typing up her reports nervously, flinching at the loud noises she heard above her. But at the appearance of a teary-eyed Edana she quickly rushed over to her friend to comfort her.

"You okay Dana?" Nani asked gently.

"Yeah," she sobbed wearily. "I'm…I'll be fine."

"Come here," Nani hugged her friend tightly. "If you ever need anything, let me know."

"I just need…to know." Edana stopped crying for a moment. "If he meant all of it."

* * *

I limped down the hallway slowly, trying to gather my thoughts and memories. So much was happening and it was all so confounding that I found myself needing a moment to meditate and sort out these happenings. I open the door to Master Essam's office and nearly snapped; however remembering I just had to limp down the hallway is enough to remind me to be calm. Master Essam is not alone in her office, the Savoit brothers, Adisa Abrafo who seems to be filling in my spot while I'm injured, and Ayana Kengi who seems more than a bit distracted.

"So far we've observed an entire day's worth of History Of War classes, and I must say we're fairly impressed with Mrs. Gotzone's teaching abilities. To take such a stale subject matter and keep her students involved is indeed a rare talent," Tynok seemed to just be beginning his report to Master Essam. Then he pretended to notice my presence suddenly. "Oh, hello Déshawn. You look surprisingly well. I heard you fought with Jerek and it didn't go so well for you."

"Hmph," I smirk, raising my eyebrows threateningly, my eyes flashing green. "You should see the other guy."

"So tell me, where are your shackles?"

"Ah well, when Jerek knocked me unconscious, for some reason they fell off of my arms." I shrugged as if I didn't know the true reason. "At that point, it got pretty ugly for Jerek and his buddies."

"Indeed," Tynok's voice sounded as if he knew why the shackles truly came off. "Well Master Essam, that is all we have to report…for now."

"Thank you gentlemen, you may let yourselves out." She nodded, simulating appreciation very well.

The five brother's filed out of the room silently and Ayana suddenly broke down.

"Déshawn! I'm so sorry!" she blurted out, rushing over to me.

"I know," I gritted my teeth.

"Are you angry with me?" her eyes were locked onto mine and I could see true regrets for her joking around.

Then my hand lanced out, my open palm catching her across the cheek, and snapping her head to the side. "Of course I am," my voice very nearly oozing out of my mouth.

"Déshawn! Control yourself!" Adisa reprimanded me.

"You helped Jerek ruin the trust and love between me and a woman I care about very much." I growled, trying to suppress the golden energy screaming to be released from my body. "You crossed the line Ayana."

"Helped, wait, what?" Ayana's confusion replaced the pained tears that seemed to spring into her eyes.

Glancing at Essam and Adisa, I hesitated, then moved closer to Ayana and lowered my voice to a whisper. "Jerek had pictures of us. When you came upstairs acting…stupid."

Ayana's jaw dropped and she covered her mouth, her eyes pleading for forgiveness, "Déshawn. I swear I didn't plan to let Jerek see us. He must've seen me heading towards your room."

"That's how things worked out though."

"Listen, I'll go talk to her. I promise I'll make things better for you two!" She whispered back.

"No," I said coldly. "You've done enough for us already."

A sound of sorrow started to escape Ayana but she caught it in her throat. "Fine."

And with that she turned and ran out of the room. I shrugged, in a valiant attempt to remain nonchalant about her emotions, and then turned towards Essam and Adisa.

"Now that I think about it, I have something important to ask you." I glanced at Adisa for a second. "Both of you."

* * *

Ayana was storming down the hallway, heading towards the dormitories, intent on finding Edana anyways. She would patch their relationship up and Déshawn would eventually forgive her. At this thought, she gingerly reached her hand up to her cheek where he'd slapped her. It had hurt her feelings more than she liked to admit, but then again, how could she expect the enemy of her step-brother to treat her after she'd wrecked his love fling. Cause that's all it really was underneath, just a fling. Edana was naturally falling for Déshawn because he'd saved her life when nobody else would. Then he, basically, rescued the entire school from a threat that was mainly formed to kill her. Anybody would fall in love with a man that would do that for her. Ayana pushed open the Academy doors, deep in thought. And Déshawn, fully aware of what he just risked to protect this woman, could only come to the conclusion that he too must love this woman. It was a mistake any couple could make, but she would make Déshawn come around to his senses. Smirking a bit, she could already tell his senses were well tuned. Crossing the courtyard slowly, something brushed across her own, well-trained senses. It was a ki that was emblazoned with anger. She recognized the energy as Edana's pretty quickly, and, with a smug thought, she could feel a bit of Déshawn's own power blended into the outlines of her aura.

"_So he did show her affection," _Ayana licked her lips, fantasizing in her own mind for a moment.

Then it was show time, as Edana had obviously picked up her own ki. Edana was a healer; so naturally she would have very powerful mental abilities, and could probably pick up on Ayana's own emotions, well, if she weren't so skilled at concealing her presence, feelings, and power. But the way Edana approached her, didn't seem like she would be open to the idea of a conversation with her. And it was pretty obvious she recognized her from the picture. At that thought, a wave of heat flashed through her body and a blush appeared on her cheeks. Quickly wiping her thoughts, Ayana prepared herself.

The ground where Edana's feet had been planted seemed to explode as she pushed off and rocketed towards Ayana's figure. Blue ki enveloped her lean figure as Ayana met the challenge with a pink battle aura. She leapt backwards nimbly as Edana swung a vicious hook towards her face. Ayana danced away from the follow-up kick before her visage faded away from Edana's ki blast. Pausing for a moment she turned around quickly, trying to find her lost prey. Then the ground explodes under her and she screams in surprise as the searing energy engulfs her and launches her into the air. As the smoke from the explosion begins to clear and Edana's body begins to pitch towards the ground again, she hears a cackling descending from above her.

"Blistering Shards!"

Suddenly red bolts of ki started to rain down on Edana. She covered her face and arms but the darts of energy tore into her skin voraciously. Shredding it until blood began to leak out in several places until Edana's form finally crashed into the ground with a gasp of pain as oxygen was squeezed out of her chest. Gritting her teeth, Edana rolls backwards as Ayana lands a few feet away from her. Planting her hands, she flips onto her feet just as Ayana follows up. She dips backwards, avoiding Ayana's jab easily, then leans to the side and fires off a heavy punch into her ribs. The blow causes Ayana's body to jerk reflexively. Edana follows up with a snapping roundhouse kick, spinning into a reverse thrust kick and uppercut that launches Ayana into the air helplessly. Edana fades into view above her, lacing her fingers together and swings them down rocketing Ayana back towards the ground and neck-breaking speeds. Stopping herself at the last second, Ayana re-orients herself as soon as Edana comes whipping down to plant a knee into her stomach. But she fades away right before Edana pulls even with her, and she slams her leg into the ground causing an explosion of debris and dirt. Turning quickly, Edana barely manages to block the ki blast that Ayana let loose. Through the smoke of the explosion Ayana follows up with a hook towards Edana's face that she blocks and counters. Suddenly the fight is taken to a new level as they begin to exchange blows at an astounding rate, the likes of which Déshawn would hate to find himself in the middle of. But in a way, that's exactly where he was. As the flurry increases in speed and intensity Edana finds herself growing fatigued, not being able to keep up with the stronger Ayana. She let's off a quick blast at Ayana's stomach, that she swerves to the left to dodge, and backs up a couple steps. But Ayana is reluctant to let the pace of the fight be dictated by her opponent, and continues rushing in. Edana smirked, having expected her opponent to press her superior attack.

Blue ki explodes on both of her palms, "Heavens Barrier!" and she thrusts them forward small balls of energy flying out a few feet and forming a huge wall of power that Ayana crashes headlong into.

As soon as she makes contact with the shield, it explodes and Ayana screams in pain as she's thrown backwards, crashing on her back roughly. She quickly bounced back to her feet and took off after Edana again. This time their battle took to the skies as Ayana kicked her way around and through Edana's defenses. Picking her targets carefully she aimed for several pressure points and joints gradually wearing Edana's defenses down until she missed a low kick from Ayana that hooked around the back of her knee. Her leg buckled, despite their being airborne, and Ayana seized the opportunity quickly. Snapping a heel-thrust into her solar plexus, an axe-kick onto the nerve between her shoulder and neck, before finishing the devastating combo with a roundhouse kick to the temple. Stars danced in Edana's vision and she pitched to the ground, landing with a loud crash that sent vibrations through the grounds. Ayana landed next to Edana's body and slammed a kick into her ribs, apparently forgetting her goal of explaining Déshawn's faithfulness. Edana started to push herself back to her feet but another kick pulled her arms out from under her, causing her to fall again. Then Ayana's foot connected with Edana's face causing her to yell in pain and blood to flow freely from her lips and nose. But the blow seemed to have brought Edana to her senses and she quickly rolled away from Ayana and scrambled to her feet, fear suddenly flashing through her emerald eyes. Dropping into a fighting stance again, her teeth seemed to grit as she realized just how big of a disadvantage she was at against Ayana. Ayana seemed to notice this epiphany and laughed a bit. Then she thrust her palms into the air calling upon her full power as a pink battle aura exploded around her, her laughter heard throughout the entire process.


	7. Ayana vs Deshawn

While the battle between Edana and Ayana raged outside, I feigned ignorance to it, in pursuit of my own knowledge. The faux act would not last long, as I'd just sensed Edana's ki falter as Ayana's seemed to sky rocket.

"_Kami, it's even higher than when I scanned her a while ago." _I thought in surprise. _"Could she be more powerful than me?"_

"You came to me with a query did you not?" Essam asked me, bringing my thoughts back into focus.

"A quarry?"

"Question."

"Oh, yeah." Then I hesitated, thinking I could sense a power outside Essam's office.

"Well go ahead and ask me," Essam pressed pointedly. "It's not as if you have anything to hide from me is there?"

"Um, no." I answered, feeling a bit wrong-footed. "Last year, the last time I spoke with Nani she was in tears. Something tells me you know exactly why, and that you know why she no longer sheds tears."

"Yes, Jerek had died in Dabir's assault on the school last year. Am I correct?" Essam asked.

I nodded silently.

"Well, I don't know if you've heard the legend, but there is a story of aliens with an amazing power. These aliens, Namekians they're called, have many amazing powers and skills. Ranging from being able to create clothing for themselves out of thin air, to being able to stretch their limbs to unimaginable lengths, and even regenerate lost limbs in mere moments." Essam began. "But the guardian of these Namekians, their 'Kami', has the most amazing power, and perhaps the cause of such distresses befalling this planet. He can create a set of Dragonball's. There are 2 sets of Dragonballs, and 7 balls in each set. Each Dragonball is about the size of a coconut, a shiny golden color and a red star to depict which numerical denotation it goes by."

"So, 3 stars, the number 3 Dragonball. Right?" I ask.

"Exactly." Essam confirms, clearing her throat.

"Now, these Dragonballs, while fairly insignificant on their own. If you manage to gather the complete set, and summon the Dragon Shenlong, you will be granted any wish within its impressive scope of power." Essam smirks a bit.

"And this scope of power even includes the revival of lost lives," I questioned slyly.

"Yes, one of the Dragon's simpler abilities. He could even easily grant immortality, unspeakable power, riches, and only the Dragon knows what else," Essam smiled. "Last year, after the tragedy that befell this school, I immediately sought out the Dragonballs to revive my lost pupils."

"But, you never-" I paused at the look on Essam's face, a look that stopped me in mid-sentence. Perplexed I amended my previous statement. "Told me about the Dragonballs before."

"Of course not, imagine the potential such a myth presents. I didn't feel you were mature enough to know of such power lying scattered across our beloved planet." Essam explained. "But you have, indeed, matured. And well I might add. So I have no qualms bestowing the surreptitious knowledge of such magnificent possibilities upon you."

"Thank you, mother," I stand up, glancing around the room for a moment. Spotting my red-lense scouter, I grab it and place it over my right ear quickly. "Well, I'll be back this Friday, as per our agreement. But now, I have a situation I must tend to."

Bowing out of the room I tore off down the hallway, not bothering to try and comprehend what had just taken place between Essam and I. Instead, I headed out into the courtyard, where the sun began to set on the fight between my girlfriend and her enemy.

* * *

Edana knew she wasn't doing well; it didn't take the constant coughing up of blood to tell her. Or the cut above her left eye, or the searing pain in her shoulder, or the blood pouring from her lip, or even the bloody nose; it was the sheer lack of effort Ayana seemed to need to put forward after she had finally unleashed her real power. It was astonishing. Ayana countered everything she threw at her, with such effortless brilliance, such astonishing manipulation of her ki, with such contempt, that Edana had long passed questioning the wisdom of attack such a clearly superior fighter. She was now trying to find a way to escape this fight alive.

"_Surely Déshawn must be on his way to rescue me."_ Her hopeful thoughts continued to pound with the throbbing pain across her body. _"Even if we did fight, he wouldn't let Ayana…kill me. Would he?"_

A blue aura of power exploded around Edana as she glared into the air at Ayana, who seemed content with her elementary defiance of gravity, as she summoned every ounce of ki from the innermost pit of her soul to take one last shot at causing Ayana some major damage. She spread her arms out to the sides, as pure white ki glowed brightly on her palms and she slammed them together at the wrists letting the enormous beam of power whip towards Ayana.

With what may very well be her last breath, Edana yelled, "PURIFYING BLISS!"

Ayana smirked, as red ki seemed to envelop her entire being. Hanging in the air, staring down the face of the powerful attack, Ayana simply waited, glowing in preparation for her final counter attack. She could sense Edana's strength failing, and knew that this would be her last attempt to finish the fight.

"Dying like a true warrior. Admirable…" she muttered to herself.

Then Ayana's entire body flexed and she faded out of existence for a split-millisecond before she faded into existence behind Edana, who took a moment to realize that her attack had missed it's target. Then Ayana snapped her right hand out in a snake-like striking motion, a red blast of ki dancing off of it, whipping towards Edana who immediately dodged to the side. Then her left hand whipped out, before her right hand danced back out. Back and forth her left and right hand struck at the air between herself and Edana with snakelike quickness, each strike sending out a wave of maroon power aimed to finish off her dancing target. But Edana remained resolute on avoiding each blast, no matter how the constant flood had exhausted her beyond the point of consciousness. Then she sensed it. It was most likely Edana didn't notice his presence as her plight was a bit more attention consuming, but Ayana could sense Déshawn approaching the fight. Well, she had something that was sure to piss him off.

"FLARING SERPENT!"

The red beam of ki shot out from her palms, the flexible form of the beam weaving it's way towards Edana, who was suddenly unsure of which direction would be safe to dodge to. In the end she simply closed her eyes and threw up a block at the last second.

I watched Edana dodge, pointlessly, around all of Ayana's annoying blasts. It would've been better if she just let them hit her, but perhaps she was so hurt that she was afraid to take any damage. I continued strolling towards the battle, with the most unconcerned of postures, waiting for Ayana to truly strike at Edana. It was a clear setup for a much more potent attack, and that was what I waited for. Then her energy shot up suddenly, and I took off immediately. The Flaring Serpent weaved its way towards Edana, trying to cut off any means of escape, and did so very successfully, for at the last second she just threw up a last, desperate block. Then I faded out of view, before reappearing in front of Edana, my arms crossed in a much more potent block. The attack detonated, throwing smoke and chunks of debris into the air giving me the opportunity to grab Edana and move her away from the battlefield. Placing Edana gently on her back, she gazed at me thankfully, her eyes drooping from exhaustion.

"Thank you…my savior." She nearly whispered, before passing out.

"Well, she lasted a lot longer than I thought she would," Ayana shrugged. Then she turned to head back towards the dormitory, but pulled up short when I whipped a ki blast into the ground in front of her.

"Where do you think you're going?" I questioned. "I'm nowhere near done with you."

Ayana looked at me for a moment, as if sizing up the seriousness of my statement. "Fine."

She wasted no time playing around with me, Ayana immediately powered up to her full potential, obviously realizing how close to home I took her attack on Edana. Double tapping my scouter as I watched, it began to monitor Ayana's power up until she finally finished, coming to rest at 1,000,000. My eyes narrowed as Ayana took off towards me, her fists cocked.

"Here you go again," I laughed.

I dodged her hook, snapping my hand out to deflect her kick, and duck her follow up roundhouse kick. Ayana has no intentions of giving me a rest however as she lets off several ki blasts at my stomach that stun me for a moment. She slams an elbow into my temple before I recover, and my vision swims for a moment. When it finally clears up, Ayana's fist pounds into the side of my cheek, snapping my head to the side. Then she leaps forward, using a ki-boosted jump, to slam a punishing knee into my stomach that nearly makes me double over. Even if it didn't get her desired effect, the blow was still strong enough to make me gasp for air as she twists into a corkscrew uppercut finally sending me rocketing into the air. Landing on the ground roughly, I roll with the momentum and flip onto my feet, meeting Ayana's assault more effectively this time. Catching her initial punch, I pull her into a sidekick planted right into her ribs. I feel them give under the pressure of my foot, as a whimper escapes her tightly shut lips. Taking advantage of her wincing, I leap into a twisting roundhouse that nearly whips her body completely around. The follow up hook kick sends her flying off to my left however but rather than chase her down, I remain content to watch for a second.

Then red ki gathers into my fists as I raise my hands above my head, as if stretching, and then slam them down on the ground, "SEARING RETRIBUTION!"

A wave of red ki explodes out of the ground, under Ayana's soaring form, sending her flying into the air. This time, Ayana screams in pain as the burning ki tears into her skin, but she's cut off abruptly when she hits the ground. Getting up shakily, she glares at me as if my attack had hurt her feelings, rather than her body. Spitting on the ground, I drop back into a fighting stance as Ayana's pink aura enveloped her again.

"Aw powering up just for me?" I taunted as I leaned backwards causing her roundhouse kick to miss. "I'm touched."

Dodging her next two hooks, I catch her jab easily. Twisting her arm towards the midline of her body, forcing her torso to roll with the pressure I applied to her joint even as a soft whine emanated from her.

"But then again, wasn't that your goal?" I slammed a sharp kick into her stomach.

I released her wrist and she withdrew her fist as soon as I relinquished it. I spun into a hook kick, spinning with the momentum I leapt into a vicious punch that sent Ayana flying, but I was relentless. Rage taking over my actions again. Ki surged within me, despite knowing the risks of using such a power against Ayana. Hold both of palms in front of my chest a large ball of ki shot out at Ayana's soaring figure.

"SHINING RAGE!"

A golden beam of energy was thrust out of my hands covering the ball of ki and it suddenly doubled in size and speed. Ayana crashed into the ground at the same time, the Shining Rage flew over her, just barely missing with direct contact. Instead, Ayana only suffered from the ambient heat of the blast. Getting to her feet, anger clearly written on her face, she blasted off towards me again. Her fists cocked back, her ki shot up, and her eyes narrowed as if she planned to finish this fight quickly. I simply laughed.


	8. Brothers and Guardians

Ayana was starting to show signs of fatigue as she threw another ki blast at me before following up with another combo. I ignored the cheap shot and dodged each punch easily, catching her leg as she threw a final kick. Twisting my hips, I used my waist as a fulcrum to swing Ayana in a wide arc over my body and slam her into the ground.

"Had enough?" I stood over her as she lay on her back, wiping the blood dripping from her forehead.

She grit her teeth and flipped onto her feet as if she were prepared to continue the battle.

"What happened to that oh-so-determined glint you had in your beautiful hazel eyes a few moments ago?" I taunted her again, daring her to attack me.

Ayana was about to open her mouth and retort but I heard a moan behind me. Spinning around quickly I saw Edana twitch slightly. Glancing back at Ayana for a moment, I let out a deep breath of frustration before I turned and walked over to Edana, picking her up and floating off towards the dormitory.

"You got lucky this time Ayana…"

* * *

I had just laid Edana down to rest in her dormitory, bypassing the hospital under the assumption that she had grown tired of the depressing facilities. But rather than follow my normal routine of leaving her to recover, I stayed. This time I waited with her, until she regained consciousness. She was unconscious the rest of the day, until soon I too dozed off into a more peacefully induced state of oblivion. I re-awoke a few hours later to find Edana's bed empty. I stand up quickly, mentally searching for her power and find it nearby. Walking out of her room, I find her eating breakfast on the couch next to Abrihet. Clearing my throat to announce my presence, I hesitated waiting to see Edana's current mood towards me.

It was a surprisingly friendly, "Hi there."

"Hey," I answered, taking a few steps in their direction.

"Ayana's all better," Abrihet explained. "I had Edana take a look at her injuries."

"It was kind of hard to concentrate because she wouldn't stop apologizing to me," Edana finished. Then after a moment added, "I know you Sayjin aren't the apologetic type. So don't bother."

"Since when do you know about Sayjin's?" I asked suspiciously.

"Your not exactly the most remorseful person," Abrihet countered intelligently.

Flipping over the back of the couch I plop down between the pair before turning to Edana, "so are we back on good terms?"

"I would like to us to remain friends." Edana said gently, as if my feelings were the utmost concern to her and that I hadn't just shattered her own only a few hours ago. "You know, it crossed my mind that maybe we were a bit too hasty in our…commitment."

"How so?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well I was more prepared to accuse you than I was to listen to your side. Let alone consider it."

"Just as I was too prepared to allow a situation to hurt you because of my own thoughtlessness." I nodded in agreement.

"You both need practice at this relationship thing." Abrihet teased.

"Says the expert?" I questioned.

"Ask Janiko." She responded eagerly, as if she'd been waiting to announce the news to me for a while.

I laughed for the first time in a while, before standing up and stretching. I moved my right leg around, to test how well it healed before bouncing on it slightly.

"How does it feel?" Edana asked.

"Pretty good," I admitted. "Considering he broke straight through it, it didn't take long to heal at all."

"Good to hear."

"What's today?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Friday," Abrihet answers for me. "Hell of a week huh?"

"I guess yours must have been pretty hectic too," I answer.

"Adisa wants me to tell you that he expects you back at the team training sessions as soon as your fully healed," Abrihet suddenly remembers to pass the message on.

"I plan to," I answered. "But like you said, it's been a hell of a week."

"Well, classes are going to start soon," Edana announces standing up as well and heading into her room. "I'm gonna get ready to go."

"I should get going too," I agreed. "I'll see you both later."

Edana starts to walk past me before pausing and kissing me on the cheek, "your still my savior."

* * *

I walk into my dorm room to find Janiko sitting on the couch, deep in what looks like meditation. I shut the door a bit more quietly than I'd entered the room even though I was pretty sure the damage was done. Opening the refrigerator I grab an apple and wash it off before going into my room and shutting the door. Lying on my bed, I take a bite of the fruit before allowing my own thoughts to wander in a pseudo-meditation. _So I suppose Jerek is out of my way for now, I doubt he'll risk crossing paths with my Super Sayjin side again. One can only hope I suppose…_Swallowing the mouthful I take another bite of the apple and stand up, walking over to the window that faced out towards the middle of the Academy grounds. _I'll have to speak with Master Essam…she's probably in a fit after having to let those five jump me. And speaking of my mother, I wonder who that was listening in to our conversation about the Dragonballs…and why didn't she want them to hear that she never actually left the school to find them. The ki was too low to be one of the Savoit brothers I'd think. _Taking another bit of the apple, I noticed a few people walking across the grounds having, what looked like, a pretty funny conversations. _And speaking of the Dragonballs, I wonder if Nani knows that's why Jerek is back. Or maybe she was given another explanation. And while I'm at it, I wonder why she even LIKES that guy. Just about every other male in this school would fight Dabir for a chance to have a date with her. How'd she end up attracted to the biggest jerk of the bunch? _Taking another bite, something clicked in the back of my mind. Had Nani told me where Jerek was because he'd asked her to send me out there, or was she simply answering my question honestly? It hadn't really mattered, whether Jerek wanted her to trick me into finding him or not, I was going to track him down. While always a friendly and fun-loving person, Nani had never really had the force of character to stop me from doing the reckless things I had become so known for in the past. But she always had the good advice. _So why didn't she stop me from fighting Jerek? If she thought I would win wouldn't she want to protect him? If she knew I would lose, didn't she want to give me the proper advice? Hadn't she tried to stop us from fighting last year?_ I feel a sudden urge to go ask Nani about her odd inclinations this year, but sticking to my changes in routine and tendencies I decided to just let it go for later conversation. I take another bite from the apple and decide to change before going to find Ayana. We had a conversation that needed to be out of the way before we were forced to perform our duties again.

* * *

Wearing a black shirt with the sleeves ripped off and a pair of matching black sweat pants I headed into the training room where Ayana's ki was flaring as she trained on one of the heavier bags there. I walk into the room silently, keeping my energy as low as I can focus it, but I was still not as adept at concealing my power as Ayana or Essam were.

"Why do you bother trying to hide your presence?" She criticizes mid-swing.

"Practice," I shrug.

"You used to like showing off your power," she didn't say it in a seductive or flirtatious manner. "I used to know where you were even if I was trying to ignore your ki for the moment."

"Distracting?" I asked.

"More annoying than anything," she stopped throwing combos and walked over towards me. "Well, your girlfriend healed me up after you fell asleep beside her."

"You seem a lot less horny now that I'm a single man," I corrected her.

"I figured you were right, I had crossed the line." Ayana admitted. "And now I guess that line is gone because of me."

"Don't feel responsible," I pardon her. "I am very capable of keeping control of a situation. Really I should've just slammed the door on you."

"That was really what I expected," she laughed. "Now quiet, I must meditate."

Deciding silently to join her, I sit down in front of her. Calming my thoughts, as Master Essam had taught me, I released all the tension from body letting it flow from my feet until it reached my head. Taking another deep breath, as I cleared my mind of the turbulent thoughts that had been swirling around only moments ago.

"Your not as bad at this as I would've imagined," Ayana complimented. "But your ki is still swirling around as if you were in battle."

I was unsure of what she meant, so I simply waited for her explanation as I remained in my relaxed posture.

"Meditation is more than just relaxing your body and calming your mind. It's about centering your energy and instilling a discipline in your ki." Ayana continued.

I tried to suppress my energy but Ayana interrupted me, "I said center and discipline, not try to conceal your energy."

"You sound like my mother," I answered her.

"Then I'm a proper messenger," she smiled. Then the slid closer to me and placed her hand on my chest. "Let me see if I can help."

Rather than her trying to manipulate my energy as I'd expected her to do, and knew she was fully capable of; she simply opened herself to my mind. And what I found was absolute peace, as if even her heart had stopped beating. It was inspiring, intoxicating, but more importantly, it showed me what true meditation was. Soon the same sensation began to overcome me as I felt my body become truly calm within.

"There, that's better. Now focus on that feeling for a while," Ayana smiled as she went back to her previous posture.

We sat in silence for nearly half an hour until several powers brushed across my mind. 5 to be exact, and I was pretty sure who they were and where they were headed. Our eyes snapped open at the same time and we leapt to our feet without a word.

* * *

By the time the Savoit family reached Master Essams office, Ayana and I had procured proper scouters and were flanking the mistress protectively. When they arrived, they seemed a bit surprised that we were there to interfere with whatever scheme they'd come up with.

"Greetings, Master Essam." Tynok gave her a slight bow of courtesy.

"Good evening Mr. Tynok," Essam greeted back, the pained tone of her voice made me slightly uncomfortable. "And to what do I owe this somewhat intruding visit?"

"My sincerest apologies, but we've come across disturbing information." Tynok began, and suddenly I felt my blood freeze. "Concerning your competency in this position."

"Oh? This argument sounds familiar," Master Essam's tone caught me off guard, something of a blend between sarcasm and expectancy.

"Indeed." He cleared his throat.

"You enlisted two students named Dabir Idris and Kala Skanda?" Aprechel spoke up in his infuriatingly singsong tones.

"Yes."

"Were you aware of their past history as violent criminals?" Tynok interjected quickly, as if he couldn't wait to reach the point.

"More than aware…I knew every detail of their alleged crimes. It was the main reason I'd asked them to join the school.

"Ah, and the board had a considerable problem with this am I correct?" Tynok pressed.

"Initially. Adisa Abrafo and I managed to convince them that a school of martial arts would instill a discipline in them that would help calm their violent tendencies." Essam explained.

My stomach seemed to drop, I knew exactly where this was going and I saw no way for Master Essam to even dodge the obstacle.

"A theory I'm sure you've tried on others," Aprechel's glare flickered onto me for a moment, which I greeted by cracking my knuckles.

"A theory met with considerable success despite its inherent imperfections." She nodded in concurrence with Aprechel's statement.

"How much of a success did you consider your 'theory' after Dabir led a massive attack against the school?" Tynok asked harshly. "And how much did the board agree with you?"

"A regrettable incident. As unfortunate as your absence during that troubling time…perhaps you might've been able to stuff him into an unauthorized pair of ki manacles as well." Essam retorted slyly.

From my position behind her, I couldn't see her face, but I would've bet a great deal of money that a wink accompanied that statement.

"Why you-!" Kulner finally seemed overcome with rage and stepped forward his left hand cocked back with an open palm. I began to interfere but Ayana had anticipated his reaction. Smoothly leaping over the desk as she spun and parried his blow she lashed out with a snapping jab under his ribcage that stunned him in pain for a moment before she shoved him backwards. Havnar simply gripped the back of Kulner's shirt and he relented. Not because he came to his senses, but most likely because there was no escaping Havnar's powerful grip.

"Your quite the clever one," Tynok seemed to force a smile.

"Oh I try. Still I'll never be as clever as setting a student up to kill the adopted son of an official whose job I've been after for a decade. No, that's not only clever, but downright shrewd." Essam smirked. "You've won my envy."

"Even so, I sincerely doubt the board continues to support you taking in such volatile students." Tynok managed to squeeze through gritted teeth.

"Oh I haven't seen any indication that they're displeased with my leadership and even so I'll be sure they know what you've attempted and you'll surely be skipped over." Essam let her gaze drift over all five of them. "Along with your accomplices."

"There seems to a be a slight snag, despite all your scheming." Tynok allowed himself a soft chuckle.

"Oh?" Essam raised an eyebrow.

I felt something begin to fill the room. It wasn't a power level that I was sensing, but something more foreboding. I found myself preparing to fight although I wasn't sure why.

"You see, there is a perfectly clear sign the board is unhappy with your leadership," Aprechel flashed his would-be charming smile. "The five of us being sent here is a clear indication that you are unfit for this post."

"Indeed it's under investigation, but the five of you are hardly solid indication that I'm going to be removed." Essam's voice emanated confidence, and suddenly the doubt I felt for her evaporated.

"Perhaps in your eyes but our mandate seems to confirm that you need to be relieved of your post." Tynok reasoned, more to himself really. As if practicing a speech.

Havnar looked up, surprised and seemed somewhat angry. My mind began to process, deduce, and predict what was about to happen.

"So please, Master Essam. Step down or we will have to have you removed forcefully." Aprechel stepped in.

"Have me removed forcefully, but as I've told you. Whether I remain here or not will not affect the fact that neither of you shall hold this position." Essam waved off their threat.

Ayana's energy flared, I glanced at her as I did the same and our gazes locked.

"You misunderstand, 'Master' Essam." Kulner finally spoke up again, mocking Essam's title viciously. "It won't be the board's force that removes you."

"SCOUTER'S STRIKE!"


	9. The Beginning of the End

Authors Note: Okay, so I've finally finished editing this story. And to commemorate the repair, here's a new chapter!

* * *

Explosions went off within the small room. Blows were thrown. The door was blasted off of its hinges by someone's body colliding with it at high speeds. Smoke and debris choked the air making it hard to breathe. But I didn't give a damn. As soon as Tynok attempted to fire his initial blast I'd zapped forward and charged through it shoulder first. Not slowing for a moment I'd slammed into him at reckless speeds plowing the both of us through the door. Ayana, not expecting my aggressive move had fired off a blast of her own to stop the attack. Because of the angle she'd launched it from, when I caused her counter to miss it'd flown past Tynok and I, instead catching an unaware Kulner Savoit square in the face. He was slammed into the wall to his left with a roar of anger to go along with it. Finally, Essam whipped up a burst of ki to clear the smoke. When it cleared, it revealed an office in shambles. Plaster and wallpaper littered the ground along with shattered light bulbs from the chandelier that had been hanging from the ceiling. I stood over the stunned Tynok, blood leaking from the side of my face where the shredded wood had dug into my temple. He was in a daze having neither expected the swiftness of my response nor the ferocity of it. Kulner's hands clawed at his face as he roared in pain from Ayana's blast slamming into him.

"You stupid bitch!" he snapped as he turned to fire off a series of blows at her.

"The moron who doesn't have the focus or awareness to protect his self at the beginning of a fight is calling me stupid," Ayana taunted as she easily danced around his sloppy and enraged blows. She ducked under a punch, jabbed him in the ribs then followed up with a knee to same spot finishing with a spinning hook kick that sent him flying. "Isn't that rich."

I wasn't doing quite as well. As soon as I'd stood up from slamming into Tynok, Aprechel, and Havnar had leapt in to interfere. I ducked under the initial punch, and had to retract my counterattack as Aprechel fired off a bolt of purple ki at my head. Turning to block the attack, I was caught with a punch to the kidneys. Pain exploded across my lower back, causing me to yell in pain and drop my guard long enough for the blast to slam into my face. The explosion launched my body back into the office where I slid across the ground and slammed into Master Essam's desk. I flipped to my feet just in time to block a right fist from Tynok. Sweeping my free hand in a circular motion I knocked his fist away from me causing his chest to be exposed for a split second. I planted a sidekick into his stomach folding him over. Following with a knee to his face I snap him back into a more vertical position. A smirk curled onto my face as I slammed a roundhouse into his temple, rotating my hips I fired a hook kick into the same spot, twisting once more I leapt and slammed a third kick into the side of his head again causing him to be tossed into the wall to his right. Next in line was Aprechel, but I didn't miss a beat. Spinning as I lowered myself to the ground I swept his feet from under him. Twisting into a backflip on my hands I kicked him straight into the ceiling of Essam's office.

"Sorry mom," I whispered as I prepared to blow the roof off of her school. "SOARING HAMMER!"

A burst of ki surged from my extended palms; the air compressed between Aprechel and me before the brick wall of oxygen rocketed forward, unseen, and smashed the pretty boy out into the open air. I took off into the air after him, not taking note of the robust moon, my fists cocked back. Halfway into the air I realized I'd made a stupid mistake, as Aprechel recovered with relative ease and extended his palm towards me. With a yell of effort a burst of ki exploded from his palm raining hundreds of red ki darts on my unexpecting body. The first wave caught me in the face, stopping my momentum and sending me crashing into the ground as the fiery pain continued to consume me, burning a reminder of the difference between a fighter and a brute into my memory. Finally the storm stopped and I pulled myself to my feet.

"Quite the animal, Déshawn. But all the fury and power in the world won't help you against me," Aprechel taunted tossing his well cared for hair with a flick of his hand. "We'll have Essam out of this school in no time with that attitude."

I growled quietly, narrowing my eyes then I hesitated. I hung my head slightly as the truth of what he said sank in. _I can't just keep bashing away at people hoping to solve my problems. _Taking a deep breath I centered my ki within myself, using the technique Ayana had taught me just a few hours before.

"Fine. You want Essam out of this school so bad, you know who you have to go through." I challenged him calmly.

"Indeed we do."

* * *

Ayana was a calm person, calculating, graceful, beautiful, and anticipating. But as she watched Déshawn blast Aprechel out of the school and charge off after him, she couldn't help but feel a certain rage boiling inside of her. Tynok, Havnar, Cersint, and (she shuddered) Kulner were now surrounding her without fear of a Shadow Burn or Shining Rage blindsiding any of them and interrupting their efforts to destroy her. Tynok had announced this as soon as Aprechel had successfully lured the hotheaded Sayjin out of the fight and Kulner had taken the opportunity to describe how much he'd enjoy what was about to ensue. But if he thought she was going to allow such an easy to recognize trick, then he was more of a psychopath than she'd originally thought.

"So, you boys want to have some fun with little Ayana?" the shrewd fighter raised an eyebrow as she backed up a couple of steps.

"Oh we will," Kulner reassured her advancing the same distance Ayana had retreated, licking his lips for added emphasis.

"Then have at me!" She dropped into a fighting stance, not noticing Master Essam shut her eyes in anticipation as Kulner roared with bloodlust.

* * *

I made mistakes, but I wasn't an idiot. Aprechel however seemed to believe that I was. That worked for me just fine, but as I battled Aprechel in mid-air I couldn't help but wonder if Ayana thought I'd fallen for the bait. A pang of guilt flitted across my stomach at the prospect that she might believe I had actually abandoned her. I dodged a series of lazy punches from Aprechel who didn't seem to be committing to keeping me preoccupied. _I wonder if I could kill him before his brothers notice…_I wiped the horrible thought from my mind and returned my thoughts to placing my counter hook into his temple. His eyes glazed for a moment allowing me to slam a knee into his stomach that caused him to eject saliva involuntarily. Lifting my right arm quickly, Aprechel still folded over my knee as if facing punishment for some childish misdeed, I slammed an elbow into his back causing him to spasm in pain. I finished the brutal combo with an uppercut that sent Aprechel rocketing upwards away from me. I smirked, then directed my attention below myself...

* * *

Essam flinched again as Kulner slammed a fist into Ayana's gut once more. She screamed in pain as Havnar held her in a completely vulnerable position, his left arm around her throat and his right arm wrapped around her two arms pulling them behind her back. Kulner sneered again as he cocked a fist back and Essam closed her eyes letting out an inaudible whimper of sympathy. Then all hell broke loose.

Ayana who'd closed her eyes in anticipation missed the first explosion, but she heard the fury in the Sayjin's voice.

"SEARING RETRIBUTION!"

Then the ground below Kulner exploded, the concussion blasting him into the air as wood chips and other shrapnel tore across his skin leaving him with numerous abrasions. Then the follow up attack was announced with the same enraged bass.

"SHOWERING PHOENIX!"

And that's when Ayana developed a new respect for both Déshawn's power and precision…

* * *

I braced my right wrist with my left hand as if I was firing my deadly Scorching Phoenix attack. But rather than focus all the energy into a single focal point to pierce an enemy, I was raining ki. Keeping my focus on the small study I fired bolt after bolt nailing Kulner multiple times, tagging Havnar a bit, and making sure I slammed a burst of ki into Cersint just to shake him up. Stopping, my hand smoking from the explosive attack, I floated down into the destruction landing between Ayana and Kulner daring him to swing again.

"You better have enjoyed that, because you'll never touch her again this lifetime," I growled as black ki exploded around my body tearing the ruined room up even more.

Kulner seemed beyond words, in the back of my mind a very Essam like voice pointed out how easy he was to infuriate. His bony hand lanced out aimed for my left cheek but I snapped my hand up quickly to intercept it raising my right leg for a counter attack. Then my scouter beeped for a split second, indicating a sudden jump in power to my right. Having never used a scouter in battle before the beeping and numbers popping up in front of my eye was enough of a distraction for the blast to catch me off-guard and send me rocketing into the wall. My vision danced with darkness for a second before I could pull my head up to deal with the bolts of ki that were heading for me, fired from the Savoits. Havnar had been the one to catch me off guard with that bolt of ki, which explained my slow recovery from being hit by it. His power was undeniable and his timing had been perfect as I'd been completely oblivious to the attack. Now Cersint, Tynok and Havnar had just began to pour energy out of their palms at me before I'd gotten the chance to pull myself together. I threw my hands up in a futile defense but the searing pain never came. I opened my clenched eyes only to see Ayana standing between me and the ki attacks, her hands extended, and the attacks not even exploding on her. Suddenly I realized what she was doing: absorbing the ki attacks. Shaking my head to clear it, I focus my energy within myself.

"Get ready to move Yana," I say in a low voice.

She nodded as the Savoits continued their futile attack. I extended my palms out as power began to glow golden on them.

"Now Ayana! SHINING RAGE!"

She drops to the ground in a perfect split as the Savoit's ki attacks slam into my significantly more powerful energy ball as it soars towards them. Then the second part of the attack kicks in as a matching beam covers the ball of energy fueling the attack with twice the energy before it hits the ground in front of the brothers and the explosion sends them flying out of the building as they all yelled in surprise and pain.

"I could kiss you right now Ayana," I thank her. "I owe you big."

"Mmm, maybe later." She winks before taking off after them, eager to finish the fight.

Shaking my head to clear the thoughts associated with Ayana winking, I flex my fists and a black ki of power explodes around me once more. As the five brothers dragged themselves to their collective feet, I surveyed the room carefully, then decided the situation was against us.

"Hey 'Yana...I don't like this spot." I started with a cocky tone to my voice.

"What?" She sounded perplexed at my announcement.

"Let's get some fresh air." I explained to her before grabbing her around the waist and lifting off through the enormous hole in the roof.

" Désha-" her protests are cut off by my sudden burst into the air. After I release her, letitng her fly on her own power she huffs and blows her silky hair out of her face. "What are you doing?"

"Saving our lives. In that small ass office we would've eventually hurt Essam or got ourselves killed." I explained. "We're better, but in close quarters their numbers count for a lot more with our restricted movement. That and I had to hold back a lot on my attacks."

"Won't they just go after Essam?" She sounds frustrated.

I allow a slight smirk to come onto my face. Tynok was insulted, Kulner was way beyond comprehendable thoughts, Cersint would follow the majority, Aprechel would follow Tynok. Havnar is the only one who had the sense not to follow us outside. I laughed a bit as I watched the 5 officials flying out of Essam's office after us. Kulner in the front, his burning eyes fixated on Ayana, Havnar bringing up the rear reluctantly.

"It ends here!" Tynok yelled at me.

"If you say so, but I'd rather you have lived longer." I taunted.

"You motherfucker!" Kulner rages and charges in at me.


	10. The Transformation!

Authors Note: Thanks for the review Jeff, I really appreciate it. If not to inspire me to update more often (so I don't think I'm just uploading a story to entertain myself hehe) but to point out my flaws better. As for your comment about power levels, I have to apologize. I actually intended to list everyone's power level at least once at some point in the story. And have readings as battles ensued and powers fluctuated. The reason I kinda skipped over this is because I have a secret file with everyone's official power levels (mostly to avoid consistency issues) so what ends up happening is I forget to put them in the story. DBD 3 should resolve this little oversight (as I have dbd2 completed already, just need to format them and upload which is sort of a pain).

* * *

"You stupid juvenile piece of shit," Kulner spat out angrily. "I'm going to kill you and your little whore."

I could feel Ayana's body tighten in rage but I simply grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind me. Not in a protective manner, but rather a vengeful one.

"No Ayana. I told him he'd never lay another hand on you and I meant it." I cracked my knuckles as my ki flared menacingly. "He's mine."

"You can't seriously expect us to all-" Havnar was cut off by Kulner's arrogant retort.

"No...have at me you stupid monkey!" His sneer lit up the by light of the full moon.

I closed my eyes for a moment, centering my ki, then snapped them open in time to see Kulner launch a wide hay maker at my face. I ducked under it slamming a knee into his stomach as I curled my hands into fists. Pivoting around so I ended up behind Kulner I snapped a kick into the back of his knee causing him to drop to a kneeling position.

"Get up, I barely touched you." I commanded him.

Growling he gets up throwing a wild back fist as he turned to face me, but I was miles ahead of him still. In my peripheral vision I saw Havnar flinch before I'd even slammed my counter into his brothers face causing a fresh flow of blood from it. Firing a powerful side kick into his chest I send him flying backwards half a dozen yards before he slides to a stop, the back of his hair caked with dirt. Ki burst into existence as I thrust my right hand forward slinging the destructive energy at him. On cue with the explosion a crack of thunder rumbles. As Kulner drags himself to his feet once more lightning flashes as a wild grin shows the blood on his face dripping down his temple, nose, and even between his teeth. His eyes flicker from fixed on my poised fists, as I'm waiting patiently for him to counter, to Ayana's observing and relaxed pose.

"Don't even try it." I warn him.

No dice. Kulner takes off towards me, before veering suddenly into the sky his hand outstretched for Ayana's leg to swing her around by. I blurred into existence next to Kulner, catching his fist with my nearest hand before slamming my palm into the back of his elbow breaking his arm at the joint. He roars in rage, grabbing me by the throat with his uninjured hand and slamming a head butt into my face. My head snaps back from the heavy skull pounding into it. Then he follows up with a hook kick to my temple that I block quickly, before firing a left cross into his face. I bring my right fist into his stomach and finish with an axe kick onto his back that sends him plummeting to the ground. I don't hesitate for a second. Purple and black ki flares on my hands and I extend them towards the psychopath.

"Shadow Burn!"

The blast slams into his wretched form as he tried to push himself up with his good arm. But the pure pressure of the ki forces him back onto his chest before the actual burning effect of the ki was entered into the equation. Looking into the brightly lit sky as I gather my power to finish the disgusting school board official, I take note how beautiful the moon looks with lightning flashing across the sky. The moon reminded me of Ayana's hair.

The moon.

Something grew in me. It wasn't power, not at first at least. It wasn't rage. It was mass. Pure muscle. Raw animal fury. It burned all over until it escalated to agony. It started at the base of my spine and spread outwards across my spine and legs. Then to my torso, arm, and finally reached my head. I grabbed it in pain as I dropped to my knees roaring. Until the roar morphed. It wasn't one of pain, it was one of fury and instinct.

My nose twitched as an unpleasant smell suddenly came to my attention. I turned in the direction it came from. It was some small, pitiful human. Pale skinned, thin frame, and he reeked of bad intentions. Then one of his palms glowed and something exploded against my bulk. Something that burned. I roar in anger before snatching up this pathetic thing and squeezing. I squeezed until it stopped being alive before discarding it's lifeless form to the side. Roaring in triumph I beat my chest.

* * *

Ayana didn't know Déshawn very well. Hell, she hardly knew him at all. She'd only just recently discovered he was an alien to this planet. But this...this development was completely random. He looked up at the sky and transformed into an enormous ape, at least 5 stories tall, 2 stories wide. Bulky, covered with fur, frightening red eyes, and unmatched physical power. He'd just squeezed the life out of that psycho and tossed him aside like it was nothing, then began to beat his chest.

"He's a giant ape now...okay. I can uh...handle this." Ayana announced to nobody in particular. "I'm sure everything will be okay."

Then the apes ears twitched and her hopes evaporated. It couldn't have been the Savoits the beast had heard. They were either frozen in fear or simply staying silent out of intelligence. Either way, it was her the thing had heard. The second it did, the monster turned his head towards her and opened it's mouth roaring. Ayana had prepared a sarcastic remark but she was cut off by the beam of ki that it fired from it's mouth. She yelped and dodged out of the way. Then her mind spoke to her it told her "dodge". She whipped around as a green blast of ki from Tynok nearly connected with her.

"Oh that's low..." she said to herself as she faded out of existence and reappeared next to the gorilla. "Okay boys...you all wanna touch on lil' Ayana?"

Tynok didn't respond verbally. He simply took off after the silver haired beauty. Aprechel joined in after commanding Cersint to help as well. Ayana watched them charge into the sky and noticed, with a pang of gratitude, that Havnar abstained from helping. As she adopted her fighting pose a heavy boulder-like object collided with her back. She screamed in surprise and pain as she was sent pitching forward into the ground headfirst. Aprechel took advantage of her helplessness and catches her mid air before she crashes painfully.

"Oh my hero." She mocked playfully, even as Aprechel spins her into a submission hold leaving her midsection open to damage.

Tynok and Cersint both charge in aiming blows to her torso. No dice, Ayana rotates her palms forward as red ki glows for a moment.

"Blistering Shards!"

The mini bolts of ki tear into Tynok and Cersint like broken glass causing them to retreat in pain, unwilling to endure such damage just for a couple of cheap shots.

"Oh Aprechel dear," Ayana begins. "You think you could release me for just a moment please?"

"And why would I do th-" He stops short as he realizes the giant ape is firing another mouth beam at the pair. He lets her go and kicks her towards the deadly blast before turning and zipping away from it. Giggling Ayana fades away from the attack and blurs in next to Aprechel.

"Your so sweet," she snickers before plowing a knee into his back causing him to jerk in pain.

Slamming the edge of her hand into his opened throat as she sweeps his legs out from under him she drops the pretty boy to the ground with two simple motions. Immediately after the vain man is on his back, Ayana fades out of existence once more. Not because she necessarily knew there was a blast of ki heading for her back. But she assumed the sneaky Tynok would attempt blindsiding her. And she'd been right as Tynok's ever-green bolt of ki slammed into Aprechel from the direction Ayana had just been standing.

"Watch your aim idiot!"

Ayana once again appeared next to the ape. Treating him as a safe point from the five brothers, but she simply was trying to provoke Déshawn's more animal side into firing off more beams from his mouth. Instead of a mouth beam the ape turns and swings a 2 ton backhand at her which she barely has time to put her hands up to block. The sheer force of the attack, even if it didn't manage to damage her directly, caused her body to rocket towards the ground. Turning slowly the ape lifts it's foot and slams it down towards the helpless girl.

"No!" she breathes in a panic attempting to command her damaged form to get the hell out of there.

* * *

Something was wrong. His mind was in a primal rage but he could register vaguely if things were supposed to be happening. He had attempted to squish the little female but his foot couldn't hit the ground. Something stronger than him was below his foot and wasn't letting it budge. Roaring it lifted it's foot to see what it was stopping him...

* * *

Now Ayana was completely confused. Her sense of friend and foe was thrown into disarray when she saw it was Havnar who'd blocked the ape's stomp. Her mind vaguely noticed how powerful the Savoit must be to physically withstand such force on his own.

"Did you mistake me for Aprechel or something?" Ayana questioned.

"Not like that. I won't see anymore die like that..." Havnar seemed to be speaking to himself, still shaken up over the death of his brother.

Something in her heart stirred. This brother to such evil men had quite a heart himself. Willing to save her life from Déshawn when she herself would've let him die without any hesitation.

"Havnar," Ayana grabbed his attention.

He turned slowly, still not completely paying attention.

"Fight me." She fired off a bolt of ki at him that he swiped away reflexively before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.

Ayana stayed on the ground, avoiding fighting in the air, not liking how easily she could be surrounded from every direction. So she used the ground to at least eliminate one angle. As the 4 brothers charged in a pink aura of defiance exploded around Ayana. _I'm gonna take you four on in a way that only Déshawn could. And then I'm gonna change him back. _The first punch wasn't even close to hitting Ayana. She parried it to her right, cleverly using Tynok's leading punch to intervene with Aprechel's attack. Ducking under Cersint's attack from the rear she snapped a kick into his stomach that sent the pathetic man flying. Spinning away Ayana dodged Havnar's kick for fear of what kind of strength he possessed after witnessing him stand up to the monstrous Déshawn. Slamming a fist into Tynok's kidney, she leaned backwards away from Havnar's follow up attack before planting a fist into his rock hard stomach. The man barely flinched in pain, but his counterattack missed as Ayana flipped over him. Landing behind the large Savoit she fired a hook kick at Tynok, who easily blocked the half-effort kick. Jumping away from the 3 brothers Ayana found herself staring into an orange bolt of ki from Cersint. Not having a second to breathe she was caught off-guard by the blow and sent rolling across the ground. Leaping to her feet quickly, a right hook from Havnar pressed darkness in on the corners of her vision. Then the three brothers leapt away as Déshawn fired another mouth blast at the group. She crossed her arms in a feeble block and screamed in pain as the attack razed her sleeves and the skin on her arms. When it finally subsided she staggered to her feet, blood dripping from her burnt forearms.

"Everything will be just fine." She said quietly to herself again. As if chanting a mantra. "Your not Jimiyu. You can do this."

The attack pressed on again and Ayana danced through it beautifully. Avoiding every blow with serpentine reflexes Ayana managed to score a hit or two herself while she fought to stay alive. Seizing her opportunity when the 4 stopped to reassess their attack pattern on the fluid defenses of Ayana.

"You make no sense," Tynok spat at the ground. "You shouldn't be able to fight all of us at once."

"Keep talking. Maybe you'll run yourself outta breath for me." Ayana giggled and winked.

"Silver haired devil," Aprechel breathed heavily. His stamina obviously not conditioned for long drawn out fights.

"Silver tongued cowards." She shot back.

Havnar didn't seem emotionally impacted by her insult, but it was him that made the first move. He threw a wide right that Ayana ducked under easily, but he'd planned on that. As soon as she leaned under the punch he raised his knee to catch her in the chin. But her unrivaled reaction time brought a block up in time to cope with the blow. However, with her hands occupied Havnar now freely grabbed Ayana and spun once tossing her towards Déshawn's ape form.

"Oh shit."

Just as he noticed the small form soaring towards him, he closed his hands around her. His eyes narrowed as he began to squeeze the helpless female. Suddenly finding air a precious commodity Ayana gasped in agony as she felt the unyielding grip tightening.

"No...!"

* * *

It was back. The tiny female was now inexplicably soaring towards me so I caught it. I would squeeze it like the other pitiful man and get rid of her for good. Something stirred in the back of my mind as I heard the little woman gasp in pain. The man hadn't made a sound as I had crushed him. Why would she? Did she value her life so much more?

"No..no no no no...please don't."

She was pleading with me. I hesitated. Why would she think I'd care about her life?

"C'mon Désh...let me go." Her voice was cracking. Upon a closer look into her eyes I was noticing something glistening.

Not like this. Not to die by the hands of the greatest man she'd ever known. She'd fought so hard for him. Why would he kill her? Why would Kami be so cruel? After Havnar saved her from him, he'd still kill her. It hurt so much. The crushing, it was almost as bad as when she realized she had cost him his lover. It almost hurt as bad as when he'd slapped her.

"Please..." her voice was weak. "Please no..."

Almost. She'd almost done it. She'd almost saved the school. She'd almost won Déshawn's love. She wiggled in the ape's solid grip.

"Please Déshy...don't let them win."

"Them" she'd said. Who was she talking about? His eyes scanned the ground. As he scanned he noticed a broken and bloodied figure on the ground. It was that pale man. The one that'd tried to touch this girl...his rage grew. He'd laid his hands on Ayana, had threatened her. He'd hurt her!

* * *

Ayana wiggled helplessly. Whimpering in pain, only mildly thankful that the ape's vice grip wasn't getting worse. A small prize to not dying was knowing that this agony of hers wouldn't subside. Then it happened. Déshawn began to shrink, the hair disappeared, the snout receded back into a nose and mouth. Slowly the transformed Sayjin reverted back to his normal state.

I wasn't sure what had just happened. I'd looked up to the sky in preparation to kill Kulner for good and the next thing I know I was holding Ayana's bleeding form. The strangest part was this weird dream I had of me rampaging around the school grounds.

"What...what happened?" I asked, completely bewildered.

"I did it Déshy...I turned you back." Ayana smiled weakly, reaching a hand up to my cheek as tears poured down her face. I looked at her eyes, the look seemed to be one of a woman embracing her death.

"You promised me Kulner wouldn't touch me again," she coughed, blood dripping from her mouth, over her beautiful lips onto her shirt as she did so.

I couldn't believe this was happening. Was this my fault?

"Ayana," I spoke in a controlled voice. Trying to hide the sorrow from her. "I'll make you one more promise."

"Tell me anything Déshawn...I'll believe in you." Ayana's voice was getting weaker. Had I been the monster that tried to squeeze her to death?

"I promise you. You will live through this day. And we will hold each other tomorrow." A single tear dropped from my eye on to her shirt just as her eyes closed.

For what I feared was the last time.

"No..." my voice quaked.

I shut my eyes...not willing to look at a world without those hazel beauties in it. This couldn't be my fault. I can't have done something so horrible to someone so gorgeous. It couldn't be.

"No," I denied once more.

"Poor Déshawn...killed that pretty little thing cause he was just a stupid ape." Tynok taunted me.

"Now we HAVE to take you in," Aprechel laughed. As if rules or regulations were what this fight was even about.

"Shut up..." I growled low. I snapped my eyes open flashing bright emerald pupils at the four officials.


	11. Deshawn: Super Sayjin

The ground shook. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the deep crackle of thunder. Rain began to pour down on the battlefield as Déshawn slowly floated into the air. Ki surged through his body as his power began to sky rocket. He yelled in rage and pain as his muscles grew exponentially, and his body was flooded with the legendary power of his ancestors. A power he didn't fully understand and hadn't trained his body to use properly yet. A power he intended to wield with devastating effectiveness.

His roars continued as his hair flashed golden and his black ki was swallowed by a more powerful golden energy. The storm around the young Sayjin matched only by the turbulence within himself, Déshawn cocked his fists and glared down at the Savoit brothers.

"You have accused my mother, slandered her name, attempted to have her destroyed. Now face the rage of a Sayjin and repent for your transgressions!"

Then darkness overtook her world.

* * *

I knew it had happened again. The world had become clear to me once again. My senses were heightened exponentially, I could feel the power surging freely throughout my body. Looking down at the battlefield I spotted the Savoits. I yelled again, thrusting my fists towards the ground, my ki exploded around my body again as a bolt or two danced off of my form. Sweat poured down my forehead as I could already feel the drain of the transformation. When I had first transformed, it had been the first time so my endurance for the strain was fresh. I had transformed just the other day, and I felt like it had been a colossal waste of power now. Chafulumisa could have beaten Jerek without my help, but I wouldn't have been able to fight him while that badly injured without the golden power. So now here I was, in front of 4 extremely powerful opponents, one of whom I was sure could handle my Super Sayjin powers alone, and I was sure I couldn't maintain the form for more than an hour if that. I was going to have to end this fast. Lightning flashed again illuminating my targets as they carefully spread out and surrounded me. I floated to the ground, between them and Ayana's corpse. Thunder crashed and rain splashed across the destroyed grounds of the school. The buildings mysteriously intact besides the destroyed office where Essam resided. I could imagine her sitting at her desk in the shrapnel littered room with her eyes closed and hands folded in prayer that I would return alive. If I died, then so would Ayana. And if the guardians of this school perished, then Essam wasn't far behind us. If that happened. Kami wouldn't be able to save this school from whatever fate awaited it beyond that outcome. With this realization I found it oddly frightening that I was the only thing between destruction and this school. I could've cared less about the majority of the student body. But I would not fail Essam, I'd failed her before. This time there could be no margin of error.

I slid my right foot back and dropped into a fighting stance. Then the Savoits charged. Energy flashed as they converged on me. I yelled as my power surged to match their offensive. The resulting explosion blew them all away from me and I isolated and picked out my targets. Pivoting around, my eyes locked on the weak Cersint. I felt a pang of guilt for isolating the poor weakling, but if I was to save the ones I loved, I had to be completely ruthless. Pressing hard into the rain soaked ground I blasted off after the man.

"No, please!" His voice squeaked.

My right fist slammed into his jaw nearly wrenching it from it's hinges. I grabbed his shirt with my left hand pulling him to his feet as my right fist plowed back into his jaw. Releasing his clothing my left elbow came across his jaw from the other direction snapping his neck back around. Sweeping his feet out from under him my knee slammed into his back before gravity even pulled him towards the ground. Soaring into the air before either of his three siblings could react to my brutality. I raised my hands above my head as I pulled level with him, ki gathering invisibly on my hands.

"Would you have granted my mother mercy if your brothers had commanded you to execute her? If she had begged for her life would you have listened to her pleas?" I roared. "Soaring Hammer!"

The air between me and Cersint was compacted and slammed into him like a brick wall. The resulting blow caused a sickening crunch to reverberate across the sky. His scream of fear and agony was caught as a bloody gurgling before his body was sent careening into the ground at astounding velocities, his collision announced with a resounding crack as his neck broke instantly. I blurred out of existence, trying not to dwell on the pulverized corpse of the helpless man laying just below me. I fade into existence, this time with Aprechel in my sights.

"You bastard! You talk as if your so much better than us. But your fight wasn't with him!" Aprechel's fists were shaking with visible rage.

"Yes it was." My reply was simple.

"He did nothing to you! He only wanted to help his brothers, the ones he loved." Aprechel countered.

"My only goal is to help the ones I love." I respond.

His mouth opened to say something else, but was cut off by me attacking. I didn't wish to waste words nor did I wish to give the impression I was suddenly going to negotiate. Ayana's lifeless body haunting my peripherals had pushed me well beyond that point. Aprechel had the awareness to block my initial kick aimed at his head, but I noticed him wince as the sheer force of the blow bruised his wrist. Then I ducked and pivoted as I avoided a blow from behind me by Havnar. As I turned to face him the rage in his eyes was evident. His mannerisms were as calm and controlled as ever, but the cool determination had given way to something more intense. It was honestly unnerving.

But now was not the time for me to be weak. And so I didn't hesitate. I piston a jab at Havnar's face which he blocked easily. I opened my palm and a burst of ki exploded the detonation blowing Havnar off of his feet sending him flying across the soaked ground. Turning back towards Aprechel I was interrupted by a green blast of ki slamming into me from the side. I yelled in surprise as I was lifted off of my feet and sent rolling across the ground. Dragging myself back to my feet, mud caked the side of my face, mixing with the blood. I breathed out heavily, trying to collect my senses. Not a chance. Next thing I know a foot slammed into my face lifting me from my hands and knees and sending me flying backwards. Blood pouring from my nose as I slid several yards across the muddy ground. The rain hitting my face washing off a small bit of the mud. I drag the back of my hand across my upper lip, wiping away the blood, and sneer with pure aggression. As I watch the three of them charging in at me I found it a somewhat brutish approach, and mildly registered how insulting it was that they didn't feel attacking me required more coordination or at least a strategy. Energy condensed in the core of my being, then was channeled into the Earth.

"Searing Retribution!"

A red wave of ki exploded under Aprechel catching him completely off-guard. He yelled in pain as the energy exploded and sent him crashing into the ground face first. Then I shifted gears. I took off so fast the sonic boom itself floored Tynok and even Havnar who had been charging in at me in an attempt to protect Aprechel. Their attempt failed. I grabbed Aprechel by the back of his neck, lifting his face out of the mud. Lifting my knee ferociously, I yanked his head down towards the blow with enough force to take his head off of his shoulders. But Aprechel's raw instinct saved him as he pressed his palms into my knee interrupting the attack in time to save him from a hell of a concussion and broken nose. Undaunted I slammed my elbow into his chest stunning him for a moment as I twisted into a hook kick. Aprechel ducked under the blow returning fire with a hook into my stomach.

"Weak. For a man that should seek vengeance you don't seem to be putting a lot of effort into this," I taunted him.

"Silence you baboon!"

Aprechel followed the hook up with a sweep that I leapt over deftly. But he'd counted on such a reaction, and while I was off of my feet he spun into a powerful side kick that sent me rocketing backwards. Just as I began to try and recover a heavy blow slammed into my back. Yelping in pain as I was sent careening forward and crashed into the ground once more. Stars danced and darkness threatened to cloud my vision. Shaking my head quickly I leapt to my feet once more. I had hoped to do this half-assed, but apparently they were more than capable of handling my elementary Super Sayjin powers.

"Okay then. You guys have done pretty well so far. Let's see if you can handle the true power of a Super Sayjin."

"He was holding back?" come Havnar's first words the entire fight.

I smirk, planting my feet firmly into the ground before floating into the air as I yell thrusting my hands towards the heavens. A golden aura exploded around me, more powerful than ever before. My ki soared, energy rolled off of me in waves pounding the battered area and pushing the three Savoits backwards forcefully. The ground below me slowly began to show a concave indentation as the intensity of my transformation pressed into it. Sparks of power danced off of my body as I unleashed the full fury of a power that I still feared myself. But now, I didn't have time for fear. My emerald eyes narrowed in fury as I descended towards the ground, landing in front of the Savoits with my arms folded defiantly.

"Fine," Havnar's bass trembled across the battlefield. "Let's end this."

"It's already over," I responded.

With that I zapped forward, the air behind me igniting from the speed of my takeoff, ripping through the molecules of the air until I reached my target. I slammed an elbow into Tynok's throat before spinning and planting a thrust kick into Havnar's stomach that sent him flying a dozen yards, even as Tynok dropped to his knees gasping for air. Then my gaze slid to Aprechel, who seemed to realize at the last second that it was his life I was after next. Turning he tried to run towards Havnar who was pulling himself back to his feet from the hardest kick he'd ever felt in his life. My hand snapped out and a blast of red ki exploded in front of Aprechel causing him to leap backwards so as not to be consumed by the burning ki. Grabbing the back of his collar I yanked him towards me as I snapped a kick into his spine. He yelled in agony even as I twisted and leapt slamming a second kick into the same spot on his back. I kept my tempo up. Leaping forward after his flying body I land in front of him, firing an uppercut that launched him into the sky. His mind reeling with agony, Aprechel didn't have a prayer as I faded into existence above him. Lacing my fingers together, I smashed Aprechels back one last time with a loud crack as it finally gave under my relentless assault and broke. Even as his unconscious, lifeless body was pitched towards the ground, my left hand was bracing my right as golden ki glowed on my palm.

"Scorching PHOENIX!"

The thin, deadly beam of ki ripped through the air, punching a whole through the second oldest Savoit for one final time, even as the aftereffect of the scorching phoenix caught the air on fire effectively burning the late Aprechel Savoit. Before he'd even passed to the next dimension I had initiated my attack against the next in line of the vile brothers. This time I was after the most powerful man I'd met in my life. Havnar was as fast as he was strong and was proving to be a lot more difficult to take down. He was also an incredibly intelligent fighter. Rather than try to directly defend against my onslaught, or attack me himself, he was simply redirecting my attacks. He parried my first barrage of punches before sidestepping my snapping kick. I narrow my eyes, grunting in frustration as I find myself mysterioiusly unable to finish off the powerful man. I cock my fist back to fire off another powerful cross but I'm forced to pull up short and leap back as another green blast attempts to blindside me. Turning my green eyes towards the ever-shrewd Tynok I decide to make him the next to die. I would need complete focus if I was to fight an opponent of Havnar's caliber. Havnar seemed to pick up on my thoughts as my gaze slid towards his older brother.

"NO!" he roars, as a white aura explodes around him.

My eyebrows raise in mild surprise as Havnar's powerlevel rockets, reaching well over anything I've sensed from Ayana in her most powerful state. It was astonishing. Then he charges in at me, leading with his shoulder in the purest expression of aggression. I lean away from the huge man with a snort of incredulism. Surely such a cool-headed and intelligent man wouldn't give in to such primal rage? _Well, he has had to watch 3 of his brothers die at your brutal hands. And you are about to kill probably the last family he has left in this world._ I shook the thoughts from my head. Ayana was dying, if not already dead. If I allowed myself the weakness of humanity, I would condemn Essam to death or servitude to men just like these. I had to be the cold, ruthless weapon Essam couldn't allow herself to become. I had to wash my hands in the blood of others so Essam's could remain pure. And I had to live through today so I could keep my promise to Ayana.

"I've had it! You won't slaughter anymore of my brothers!" Havnar announces in a rage. Tynok's eyes grow wide, shocked at the sudden rush of emotion from his younger brother. Then his eyes flicker to me and he seems to realize what Havnar had noticed earlier.

"Either you leave now or your big brother is toast." I allow myself a sadistic grin to emphasize the point.

"No," Tynok interjected calmly as a white aura explodes around him and his power begins to skyrocket as well. The two brothers power up to their max. "There is no leaving now. We can't let you get away with this."

I snicker. At first. The snicker grows into a snort. Ayana's lifeless and still beautiful form flashes in my peripheral vision once more. Then it explodes into a full out, bone chilling laugh.

"Fine then!" I laugh uproariously at the prospect of the two of them taking on my full Super Sayjin powers. "Fine! Come meet your death. I am the end of the road!"


	12. Beginning of A Quest

Authors Note: This is the final installment of DragonBall Destiny 2! I hope you all enjoyed the ending. Once again, thanks for the review Jeff. I haven't forgotten what you said and I'll make sure to keep it in the front of my mind as I start on DBD3. About what you said about the bad guys having feelings, I'm trying to craft it so that is' not a black and white battle of good versus evil/right versus wrong, but more a point of view. It'll come into play during the next story I promise. I hope you still like this ending. To whoever else might be reading, be sure to leave me a review so DBD3 can be even better.

* * *

Tynok gritted his teeth as Havnar's limp form careened away from the demented Sayjin once more. He was fast, outrageously so. His reflexes didn't seem to require him seeing the incoming attack, but seemed to be coming from a prophetic sense. And his strength. Kami help him that boy was strong. He'd never met anyone that could make Havnar double up in pain from a single blow, but this boy had managed to blast Havnar so hard he went into the fetal position. It was a nightmare. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to run. To get the hell away from this demon. But he couldn't, not after what this boy had done. The point of no return was more than crossed. It had been trod and spat upon. And this Sayjin would pay.

* * *

This was far too easy, these brothers had been pounding away at me hopelessly, but I'd completely submerged myself into the innate power of my people. And I'd ascended far beyond anything they dared imagine. I scoff as I ignore a futile blow to my temple from Tynok, slapping his fist away from my head with a flick of my wrist. The resulting force cause his body to jerk from his arm snapping around. I duck as I sense Havnar's approach from behind me, but he seemed to have figured out that my dodging skills weren't actually from knowing what the incoming attack was. I had been simply ducking everytime I sensed one of their approaching powers, and each time they'd been swinging at my head. This time Havnar's sweep caught me by surprise, dropping me hard on my back as he quickly followed up with a heavy axe kick that forced some air out of my lungs. I coughed in pain before rolling into a backflip away from the second kick coming towards my chest. Slipping around the hook from the heavy handed fighter, I slammed a knee into his gut before grabbing him by the throat. His eyes go wide in surprise just as my free hand plows into his face sending him rocketing away from the battle again. Just as I turn towards Tynok again, who gulps in fear trying to scramble towards Havnar, apparently realizing his slightly younger brother was the only thing between him and death. I take off after him, cutting him off before he got five steps into his retreat.

"Your little brother isn't a shield you pathetic worm."

Gritting his teeth in frustration Tynok turns and bolts the other direction. In Ayana's direction. My reaction wasn't even to intervene, I simply watched. As he grabbed her limp form and picked her up. Wrapping an arm around her throat in a threatening chokehold he looks at me, psychotic fear apparent in his eyes. Raising an eyebrow, I raise my hands in a mock surrender.

"Come on, this can't REALLY be the best you got. Trying to stop me using some girl? A pathetic human female. In an attempt to prey on my emotions." I tilt my head and smirk. "I told you, don't associate me with your pathetic kind."

A ki blast whips off of each of my raised hands. One hitting Tynok, the other slamming into Ayana.

"Your better off threatening Havnar like that," I laugh evilly.

"Monster!"

I fade away as Havnar's powerful fist cleaves through the air where my torso used to be. He turns around quickly spotting me just as a spin kick catches him in the jaw. Grunting in pain, he whips around as blood and spit flies off of his lips. A golden aura explodes around my form, I turn my eyes to Tynok and extend a palm. Three powerful bolts of ki slam into his chest burning and charring his flesh from the sheer energy. The concussive force an entirely different matter altogether. The force of the blows crashed into him sending him rocketing across the grounds, leaving a deep trench in the mud. The sound of several broken ribs lost to the crashes of thunder across the sky. A flash of lightning illuminating the blood dripping from Tynok's lips and chin. He tries to scramble backwards, failing as the mud yields to the slightest pressure. I walk over to him slowly, palm still extended. Golden ki still glowing menacingly on my hand.

"And so comes your end."

"No..." Tynok's futile whisper is nearly inaudible.

Havnar's primal roar of, "NOOOOOOOOOOO," was a completely different story however.

My free hand snaps out, blasting Havnar in the throat with a backfist; I didn't bother to look back for accuracy purposes. I'd heard that animal instinct come out of him again, I knew his thoughts weren't on self-defense. As such, he ran into the backfist causing it to end up as a perpetual clothesline. His roar turns to a bubbly gurgle in his trachea as his windpipe is nearly collapsed from the momentum involved as he backflips several times before crashing into the ground. Tynoks last word is "Havnar!" before golden ki consumes him and blows him into oblivion. Planting a foot into Havnar's back, his resistance nonexistent, I level my right palm at his back as my left hand grabs my wrist to brace against the recoil of my deadliest technique: The Scorching Phoenix.

* * *

"Edana...where's Edana?" I breathed, carrying Ayanas limp form towards the main complex. I couldn't bear to look down at her. The blistering burns across her forearms. Blood leaking from her mouth. Bloody bruises on her neck, across her stomach, and extremities. Her pants were shredded to just above her knees, that were decorated with a few abrasions themselves, her shirt barely clinging to her chest. I smirked a bit to myself, it wasn't as if Ayana was a modest woman. At least with me she wasn't. I could half imagine her reaction should I remove her tattered top and blame it on the intense battling. Shaking my head to clear the intoxicating images from my mind, I continue searching out Edana's tranquil energy signature. Finally locating her within the wreckage of Essams office I take off soaring through the hallway skidding to as gentle a stop as possible at the doorway. Edana was facing Essams mysteriously intact desk when she heard my arrival. Turning in surprise, her expression conveys the shock at Ayana's condition. I kneel to the ground and lay Ayana down gently before looking up at Edana.

"Do what you can for her. Please." My cool voice brings Edana quickly to her feet before she kneels at Ayana's side.

I walk to Essams desk, sitting on the side of it, my body numb with exhaustion and damage.

"Perhaps you need medical attention yourself?" Essam's head tilts towards the infirmary.

"I've gotten more than enough attention today. As I'm sure Ayana's quite over my attention to her." My eyes narrow at the memory.

"Don't blame yourself. Your not used to your races ability to transform, nor do you know how to control them."

"I can control myself in Super Sayjin!" I snap, my fist pounding the first damage Essam's desk has taken all day.

"No you can not. You can direct it, influence it. A Super Sayjin's mind is far more malleable than the indomitable Oozaru transformation. You can tell your Super Sayjin powers who to hurt, but not how badly or for how long. Should anyone pose the slightest semblance of a match for your golden power at this moment, you would not last the fight." Essam corrected me. "Your untrained body and mind would lose control and the transformation would vanish for a substantial period of time."

Blinking as I take in the information I tighten my fist. "So, how do I learn to control this. This and that wretched monkey form?"

"There is a master that may have the understanding and strength to show you the way."

"Master Essam," Chafulumisa's voice interrupts our conversation. "Havnar is gone."

Rolling my eyes at Chafulu I turn with a bit of a smirk. "Yes all five of them are gone. I made sure of that."

"No Déshawn, I mean he's not dead and he's not here anymore."

"Oh..." I curse a bit.

"You 'made sure of that' indeed," Essam's voice is tinted with a teasing edge.

"Hey, in my defense Havnar was tough as hell. I should've known a simple Scorching Phoenix wouldn't have been able to finish him off, even as badly as I beat him."

"Be that as it may," Essam gets up slowly and circles to the front of her desk. "Havnar's survival is distressing."

"I'm not thrilled about it but it's not like you need to send Déshawn out to hunt him down and assassinate him right?" Chafulumisa's voice seems to convey concern at my being used in such a brutal manner.

Turning my eyes to Essam's face she seems to be on the edge of asking me exactly that. But her feelings are parallel with Chafulumisa which is why she hadn't spoken yet.

"Hey, mom. It'd be my pleasure," I assure her.

"No." Essam holds her hand up stopping my thrill at the prospect of another fight with Havnar. "No, Havnar can not hope to contend with you and Ayana right now. Mortally wounded, likely psychologically dejected, maybe even depressed."

"But you said he was going to be a big problem," Edana's voice is uncharacteristically soft. A by-product of her mindset while she was healing someone, I assumed.

"In the future yes, but right at this moment he's powerless." Essam confirms.

"And still you don't want me to finish him off?" I urge.

"I won't have my son becoming like the men he's pledged himself to defend me from," Essam rejects my plan once more.

"So what will Havnar do once he's recovered?" Chafulumisa asks.

"The dragonballs," I conclude, answering for Essam. "That was him outside the office that day wasn't it?"

"Havnar's talent extends beyond simple hand to hand combat. As a practitioner of yoga he has excellent control over his own life force, that is to say, he's able-"

"To disguise it." Ayana's weak voice announces it. "That's how he was following me without me catching him wasn't it?"

"Precisely. More than simply suppressing his ki, he has the ability to morph it. Namely to fit the mask of another energy he's had extensive interaction with." Essam explains.

"People he's fought?" Edana chimes in.

"Ah, energy!" Elentill Jorn barges, with a bubbly voice that spoke of a man who achieved a very difficult goal. "It's so pliable, controllable, so useful."

"Greetings Elentill," Essams gives him a welcoming nod.

"We gather energy, disperse it, wield it, suprress it, charge it. Yet it can't be created or destroyed. Simple manipulated and moved. Sweet, sweet energy!" Elentill's rant reminds me of a poet speaking of energy as if in a romance with it. "It is also...trackable."

"So you've met with success?" Essam questions.

"Success with what?" I ask, feeling as if I'm about to be a very busy man.

* * *

It was official. I was more than impressed with Essam, I was awestruck. Her foresight surpassed that of any other person I'd met or heard of. Essam had just revealed her final plan to me. It was a master stroke, true brilliance, flawed only by it's progression assuming that I was victorious. The night Ayana fought Edana, the night I'd asked about the Dragonballs, Essam reconized the low energy as Havnar's masked power. He naturally would relay that information to Tynok and the others, however she'd purposely stopped me from voicing that she hadn't actually left the school. Their attempt to use Essam allowing two students to kill their classmates would be self-defeating as the students were still alive and their only explanation for such would be a myth that most didn't believe in. If I'd allowed them to know she had left the school than her movements could have been tracked, perhaps theories verified. Instead their only recourse would be to destroy Essam so that the only relevant opposition to their justifications would be Adisa Abrafo. Who was easily written off as biased. When Essam had called Tynok shrewd she was downplaying his plan tremendously. As Essam had explained it to me, Havnar's only option would be to prove that Essam had allowed students under her charge to die. His first problem would be witnesses that were willing to testify against Essam. No student at the academy wanted Master Essam gone. Whether they liked her or not her wisdom and command of respect was undeniable. Anyone who truly considered the option would realize Essam was the best principal for the academy. Havnar would need his brothers to testify alongside him. As well as having his brothers to back up his testament, he'd need to prove that the dragonballs existed. His only move would be to gather the 7 mystical orbs. His success would kill two birds with one stone and achieve perpetual victory. I was currently in my room, packing a large bag. My mind whirling with the past hours revelations. After everything I still wasn't truly in control of my power. After everything I still had to fight the Savoits. After everything Ayana and I were still partners. After everything I would still be a weapon for Essam. An extension of her hand. Ayana and I would have to race Havnar to the dragonballs. While he was recovering from a gaping hole in his torso, I would spend time with a master who Essam was sure could help me control my transformations. Trying to remember everything Adisa had told me I would need I grabbed clothes, weighted equipment, tossing them all into the bag without the slightest concern.

"Your gonna be the sloppiest traveler anyone has ever seen." I almost didn't recognize Nani Moana's voice. "All those wrinkled clothes."

"Scared I'm gonna travel somewhere people know you?" I ask cunningly. "I'd hate to embarass your reputation."

Sighing Nani sits on the edge of my bed. "I wish there was such a place."

Turning and glancing over my shoulder I confirm the dorm room is empty besides the two of us. Closing the door firmly I move close to Nani.

"And who's to blame for that? It's pretty hard to truly know such a beautiful liar." My eyes lock onto hers, searching for a reaction.

"Beauty is a curse isn't it? Nobody suspects the cute receptionist." Nani doesn't seem phased. "They wave and say hi. The boys flirt with me, the girls confide in me. I smile, give hugs, kiss cheeks. The world keeps on turning."

"I know too many beautiful girls. I think I may have to realize the pretty ones are the devilish ones."

"Oh I'm a devil now?" Nani's scoff is laced with a chuckle. She stands feigning hurt feelings.

"You made a deal with one at the very least." I countered, moving closer to her, aggression glinting in my eyes.

"Oh no Déshawn, I know that look." She backs up until she hits a wall.

"Just tell me." My grip intially locking her arms to her sides. "How long were you and Havnar in league together?"

"Hey there is no me and Havnar!" Nani's voice raises. "I told you...beauty is a curse. It wasn't hard for Havnar to find leverage over me. Sure, those numbskulls Aprechel and Tynok always looked like they were in charge but Havnar was the true genius. He knew this would come to pass long before Essam did. He wanted a quick easy way to get rid of you."

"And I would never suspect the pretty receptionist right?" I tilted my head and smirked.

"All I had to do was find a boy that you rubbed shoulders with that had the intelligence put you at a great disadvantage and get rid of you. Havnar knew that the boy would come to his older brothers. It was an inevitable alliance." Nani continued, her breath getting shallow.

"And you weren't bothered at all? Get rid of Déshawn the killer. Nobody would miss my violent streak, my hot temper, physical aggression right?" My left hand tracing it's way up from her arm to her neck. Closing gently with my words.

"I can think of a few that might have." I felt her gulp back feelings. Fear, regret, I couldn't be sure.

"Such as you?" An eyebrow raised.

"Hmph. We both know the answer to that. But no matter what you may think of yourself, your not worth the life of my little sister."

"Beauty must really be a curse for you, with a carbon copy of your looks walking around right?" I smirked a bit.

Her eyes grew wide in surprise. Nani hadn't counting on Essam telling me she had a twin sister that was several minutes her junior. Leaning in closely I kiss her on the cheek and whisper in her ear.

"I forgive you."

* * *

Stretching Ayana winced. Her elbow had popped with the movement which was never a good sign to her. Taking another pull from her bottle of water Ayana glanced through her travel bag to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything. A quest around the world with Adisa Abrafo and Déshawn Maysa. The mentor and the fighter.

"Wherever you are Jimiyu, my life is about to get very interesting."

"More than just interesting." Essam's normally serene voice is laced with concern.

"Master Essam," Ayana greets with a smile and respectful nod.

"Ayana, I know your eager to prove yourself. I know your eager to help. What I do not know is if you actually understand just what your getting yourself into. Let alone if your even ready."

"I'm more than ready. How many times do I have to prove myself? I took on Déshawn's monkey form AND the Savoits at the same time." Ayana's voice sounded incredulous at Essam's implication.

"I don't mean merely the physical challenges." Essam sighs gently and sits on Ayana's bed, gesturing for her to take a seat as well. "This quest your on. Your motivations, regardless of the semantics, all come to one ultimate need."

"I'm not out to fight for Déshawn's affection." Ayana's eyes refused to meet Essam's.

"I meant approval. All year he's met your actions with disapproval, disappointment, disdain." Essam sighed. "My son cares for you. Why do you think he makes it a point the criticize you so harshly, if not because he believes you can do better? Why do you think your playful advances give him such pause, if not because they entice him so? Why do you think he swore Kulner would die before he touched you again, if not to protect what he believes should be his? What do you think sent him into a destructive rage if not the sight of you unconscious and battered?

Déshawn's heritage is not one of compassion and love. Showing affection amongst Sayjin culture is more a display of violence and dominance than sharing emotions and feelings." Essam explains. "If you don't believe me, why do you think he wants to protect everyone else here, but wants you fighting by his side? His species is known for damning the weak, but being raised amongst humans, he labels the weak by fighting to protect them, mostly for my sake. In his mind your an equal, a partner, perhaps one he would like to live the rest of his life with."

Taking in a deep breath and letting out a long exhausted sigh Ayana stands up and walks to the window for a moment. Gazing out at the once more destroyed school grounds, her thoughts swirling, Ayana considered her next statement carefully. Essam may get upset with her. She may tell Déshawn what she said and she would never live it down. But Ayana wouldn't be Ayana if she let this opportunity go. Turning slowly, a smirk on her lips and glint in her hazel eyes, she tosses her silver hair over with an uncaring flick.

"I guess I'll have to get used to your son being rough with me."


End file.
